The dichotomy was visible again yesterday: one's interest in the Big Dance games is directly related to the degree of disparity between the opponents. Of course, that changes if one has a connection to one or both participants. If that is not a factor, then the average viewer engages more in the David-Goliath matchup than in the Goliath-Goliath or David-David contests.
You can count me as an average viewer, for Sunday's Virginia Commonwealth-Kansas game was much more exciting to me than North Carolina-Kentucky's game. VCU, despite its fantastic start that had the befuddled Jayhawks gasping for air at the wrong end of a 41-27 halftime score, always looked like it would run out of gas. The suspense was terrific, as Kansas found its legs and VCU lost its shot in the first seven minutes of the second half. The lead was down to two for the Rams. Then, magic happened. VCU regained its spark with a reserve guard and the Jayhawks cooled off. The Rams hit a few more three's, and VCU posted a 71-61 win.
Coach Tupaca-Shaka Smart willed his team to victory.
Jamie Skeen had 26 and Brandon Rozzell had 9 for the Rams, while Joey Rodriguez, Ed Nixon, and Toby Veal provided smothering defense. The arrogant Morris twins of Kansas had their trash-talking mouths sealed for the season. That's entertainment.
Meanwhile, the second game between Kentucky and North Carolina held no such allure or comeuppance. It was Goliath versus Goliath. While both schools are in power conferences, they were not overhyped conferences this year. Therefore, they weren't necessarily teams you love to hate, unlike those found in the highly touted Big East and Big Ten.
One could take issue with Kentucky coach John Calipari's resume and trail of NCAA infractions, although he's never been personally proven liable. One could take issue with his one-and-done recruiting philosophy with the largest recruiting budget in Division One basketball.
Still, this year's Wildcats feature two long-termers, DeAndre Liggins and Josh Harrellson, as well as freshman superstars Brandon Knight and Terrence Jones. Kentucky is a public university in a beautiful state that lacks an NBA franchise. Kentucky has beautiful ranches.
Ambivalent feelings also surround the Tar Heels of UNC. North Carolina is a member of basketball royalty, and they aren't innocent when it comes to recruiting ultra-bluechippers who leave school early. Yet, Coach Roy Williams exudes class, even when he moved from Kansas to Chapel Hill. The school is academically respected: it is Cal-Berkeley to Duke's Stanford. Finally, Chapel Hill has been a cultural mecca for alt-rockers for over thirty years.
Therefore, my eyes were glazed over watching the Kentucky-UNC game. The only way to watch a game of minimal interest is to DVR it and fast-forward through more than just the commercials. That's what I did. What did I learn? Calipari is not only a great recruiter, but he is also a great game coach. The Wildcat poise was never in question, even when UNC made its predictable run. As a result, Kentucky won in convincing fashion, 76-69. Were they quicker than the Tar Heels? Outside of center Josh Harrellson, the answer was an emphatic yes. Plus, they utilized more teamwork and floor leadership.
Unfortunately, the brackets lead to David-David and Goliath-Goliath matchups in the Final Four semifinals. Since UConn is ESPN's backyard darling from the overhyped Big East, it will be easy to root for Kentucky. Does it matter who wins the battle of the cinderellas? I like both teams, but it would be a bigger upset to have Virginia Commonwealth go all the way. Remember, VCU was blasted for even being in the tournament. They've had to win five games in the Big Dance to get to this point. Yet, Butler has restored brilliance to basketball in the Hoosier state.
VCU is quicker, while Butler is more fundamentally sound. The biggest question is not who will win, but which coach, Stevens or Smart, will leave their respective team first for a power conference school waving wads of cash and a lavish expense account at them. Only time will tell.
Monday, March 28, 2011
Sunday, March 27, 2011
NCAA Basketball Tournament: Seventh Day Highlights and Lowlights
Saturday's college basketball action reminded me of Charles Dickens: it was the best of times, it was the worst of times. Both regional finals provided thrills and chills. One sent a familiar cinderella back to the Final Four, while the other sent the last standing team from the West back to Tucson. Unfortunately, both games were marred by game-changing officiating.
The Butler-Florida game, in which the Bulldogs won 74-71 in overtime, was exciting and well coached on both sides. The victory was exciting and satisfying for anybody not living in Florida or a Florida alum.
In the first half, Vernon Macklin was huge for the Gators. The loose officiating allowed the more physical Florida team to beat up on the smaller Bulldogs.
However, Coach Brad Stevens made adjustments at the half, and Macklin was hindered by a better defense in the second half. Also, the refs started calling the game closer, and Macklin wound up in foul trouble. The Bulldogs had the usual strong performances from Shelvin Mack, Matt Howard, and Khyle Marshall. Center Andrew Smith will have to play better next week if the Bulldogs hope to win a title. It was terrific to see a small-budget program like Butler defeat an athletic monolith once again.
In the other game, two powerhouses "duked" it out. UConn deserved to win the game: they took better shots, made better shots, and played with more consistency.
Unfortunately, the officials looked like they were targeting superstar Derrick Williams, for they quickly saddled him with three fouls. He was almost a non-factor the rest of the way, since he couldn't play aggressively. Settling for jump shots, Williams found himself hounded by a tenacious Husky defense. Meanwhile, UConn's one-two punch of Kemba Walker and Jeremy Lamb put all hopes Wildcat to bed for another year, as the Huskies won 65-63 in regulation.
The West is dead. Another factor in the Big East win: UConn has real size underneath, and they have a good game coach. Arizona's Sean Miller is still working to become a solid game coach. Wildcat tactics as the clock wound down were questionable at best.
Today's games should be equally close. First, a program of basketball royalty, Kansas, takes on cinderella Virginia Commonwealth, with their great coach and swarming defense. The nightcap has two princes of college basketball, North Carolina and Kentucky, fighting it out on a neutral court. Who pulls for Kentucky who isn't from Kentucky or a Kentucky alum? At least, UNC has a clean program and a smaller recruiting budget.
Enjoy the tournament!
The Butler-Florida game, in which the Bulldogs won 74-71 in overtime, was exciting and well coached on both sides. The victory was exciting and satisfying for anybody not living in Florida or a Florida alum.
In the first half, Vernon Macklin was huge for the Gators. The loose officiating allowed the more physical Florida team to beat up on the smaller Bulldogs.
However, Coach Brad Stevens made adjustments at the half, and Macklin was hindered by a better defense in the second half. Also, the refs started calling the game closer, and Macklin wound up in foul trouble. The Bulldogs had the usual strong performances from Shelvin Mack, Matt Howard, and Khyle Marshall. Center Andrew Smith will have to play better next week if the Bulldogs hope to win a title. It was terrific to see a small-budget program like Butler defeat an athletic monolith once again.
In the other game, two powerhouses "duked" it out. UConn deserved to win the game: they took better shots, made better shots, and played with more consistency.
Unfortunately, the officials looked like they were targeting superstar Derrick Williams, for they quickly saddled him with three fouls. He was almost a non-factor the rest of the way, since he couldn't play aggressively. Settling for jump shots, Williams found himself hounded by a tenacious Husky defense. Meanwhile, UConn's one-two punch of Kemba Walker and Jeremy Lamb put all hopes Wildcat to bed for another year, as the Huskies won 65-63 in regulation.
The West is dead. Another factor in the Big East win: UConn has real size underneath, and they have a good game coach. Arizona's Sean Miller is still working to become a solid game coach. Wildcat tactics as the clock wound down were questionable at best.
Today's games should be equally close. First, a program of basketball royalty, Kansas, takes on cinderella Virginia Commonwealth, with their great coach and swarming defense. The nightcap has two princes of college basketball, North Carolina and Kentucky, fighting it out on a neutral court. Who pulls for Kentucky who isn't from Kentucky or a Kentucky alum? At least, UNC has a clean program and a smaller recruiting budget.
Enjoy the tournament!
Saturday, March 26, 2011
NCAA Basketball Tournament: Sixth Day Highlights and Lowlights
Friday night's action can best be described by two words: thrilling and dull. The first two games of the night were one-sided affairs, with North Carolina and Kansas both showing what royal powerhouses they remain. UNC showed off its size, depth, fundamentals, and sound coaching in putting away over-rated Big East conference Marquette, 81-63.
In the other yawner, Kansas (my pick to go all the way) humbled cinderella Richmond, 77-57. The Spiders were caught in their own web of cold shooting, sloppy ballhandling, and poor team defense. The Jayhawks were methodical in dissecting the Spiders, as they put teamwork before self, including Coach Bill Self. They play Self-ish, not selfish, basketball.
The two thrillers came later in the evening, with legitimate nail-biters in Kentucky-Ohio State and Virginia Commonwealth-Florida State. Brandon Knight led the Wildcats with a final jump shot to settle the battle with the Buckeyes, 62-60.
While it was hard to pull for a coach (John Calipari) who has run into strong NCAA sanctions at two previous coaching stops (UMass and Memphis), it was easy to push against the Buckeyes and their crybaby superstar-in-the-making, Jared Sullinger. It was also easy to root against the Big Ten and all things The Ohio State stand for. The Big Ten had seven teams in the tournament, way too many. Of course, the chair of the selection committee is from Ohio State, athletic director Gene Smith.
The other late game saw Virginia Commonwealth upset another surprise team, but one with greater talent and lesser coaching, Florida State, 72-71 in overtime. VCU exhibited tremendous shooting and quickness in its fourth consecutive underdog cinderella victory of the tournament. While the Seminoles were guilty of clock mismanagement down the stretch, Rams coach Shaka Smart kept his team focused and playing smart. VCU may not be part of basketball royalty, but the program has a history of Big Dance runs. However, this is their biggest streak yet.
Is Tupaca-Shaka Smart the coach of the year? Maybe. Remember, the Rams are making this postseason run without star forward Larry Sanders, who left last spring for the NBA. If Smart is not the best coach left, maybe Butler's Brad Stevens is, leading the equally cinderella Bulldogs into the Elite Eight for the second year in a row. Butler also lost a star forward early to the NBA, Gordon Hayward. I don't think Arizona's Sean Miller is as good a game coach as either of the aforementioned individuals, but he's one heck of a recruiter for his age. The Wildcats of Arizona have a young talented team, and a top ten recruiting class for next year.
Today's games should be terrific. Butler will again be undersized, this time against Florida. How will center Andrew Smith rebound from his ankle injury incurred Thursday? Will guards Shawn Vanzant and Shelvin Mack continue to play both ends of the court? Will Matt Howard continue to bear the brunt of the scoring and rebounding load for the Bulldogs? Or will the Gators' triple threat of Alex Tyus, Chandler Parsons, and Kenny Boynton prove too much blue-chip talent for them? Billy Donovan is not exactly chopped liver as a coach, either. Is Florida part of basketball royalty? No, but the team does possess two national titles.
We know Donovan makes $3.5 million per as Florida's coach before incentives. I wonder if Coach Stevens makes 20% as much. If not, he soon will.
The other game pits the Big East's last hope, UConn, against the last hope of the West, Arizona. As you know, this blog is called the wwwesterlies, not the eeeasterlies. You understand where my sympathies and partisanship lie (no pun intended). UConn has two national titles and Arizona one. Neither is a legitimate cinderella regardless of their mediocre seedings, as they belong to power conferences.
Will the Wildcats' Lamont (Mo-mo) Jones, Solomon Hill, and superstar Derrick Williams be able to counter the Huskies' Alex Oriakhi, Jeremy Lamb, and superstar Kemba Walker? It should be fun. Enjoy the tournament!
In the other yawner, Kansas (my pick to go all the way) humbled cinderella Richmond, 77-57. The Spiders were caught in their own web of cold shooting, sloppy ballhandling, and poor team defense. The Jayhawks were methodical in dissecting the Spiders, as they put teamwork before self, including Coach Bill Self. They play Self-ish, not selfish, basketball.
The two thrillers came later in the evening, with legitimate nail-biters in Kentucky-Ohio State and Virginia Commonwealth-Florida State. Brandon Knight led the Wildcats with a final jump shot to settle the battle with the Buckeyes, 62-60.
While it was hard to pull for a coach (John Calipari) who has run into strong NCAA sanctions at two previous coaching stops (UMass and Memphis), it was easy to push against the Buckeyes and their crybaby superstar-in-the-making, Jared Sullinger. It was also easy to root against the Big Ten and all things The Ohio State stand for. The Big Ten had seven teams in the tournament, way too many. Of course, the chair of the selection committee is from Ohio State, athletic director Gene Smith.
The other late game saw Virginia Commonwealth upset another surprise team, but one with greater talent and lesser coaching, Florida State, 72-71 in overtime. VCU exhibited tremendous shooting and quickness in its fourth consecutive underdog cinderella victory of the tournament. While the Seminoles were guilty of clock mismanagement down the stretch, Rams coach Shaka Smart kept his team focused and playing smart. VCU may not be part of basketball royalty, but the program has a history of Big Dance runs. However, this is their biggest streak yet.
Is Tupaca-Shaka Smart the coach of the year? Maybe. Remember, the Rams are making this postseason run without star forward Larry Sanders, who left last spring for the NBA. If Smart is not the best coach left, maybe Butler's Brad Stevens is, leading the equally cinderella Bulldogs into the Elite Eight for the second year in a row. Butler also lost a star forward early to the NBA, Gordon Hayward. I don't think Arizona's Sean Miller is as good a game coach as either of the aforementioned individuals, but he's one heck of a recruiter for his age. The Wildcats of Arizona have a young talented team, and a top ten recruiting class for next year.
Today's games should be terrific. Butler will again be undersized, this time against Florida. How will center Andrew Smith rebound from his ankle injury incurred Thursday? Will guards Shawn Vanzant and Shelvin Mack continue to play both ends of the court? Will Matt Howard continue to bear the brunt of the scoring and rebounding load for the Bulldogs? Or will the Gators' triple threat of Alex Tyus, Chandler Parsons, and Kenny Boynton prove too much blue-chip talent for them? Billy Donovan is not exactly chopped liver as a coach, either. Is Florida part of basketball royalty? No, but the team does possess two national titles.
We know Donovan makes $3.5 million per as Florida's coach before incentives. I wonder if Coach Stevens makes 20% as much. If not, he soon will.
The other game pits the Big East's last hope, UConn, against the last hope of the West, Arizona. As you know, this blog is called the wwwesterlies, not the eeeasterlies. You understand where my sympathies and partisanship lie (no pun intended). UConn has two national titles and Arizona one. Neither is a legitimate cinderella regardless of their mediocre seedings, as they belong to power conferences.
Will the Wildcats' Lamont (Mo-mo) Jones, Solomon Hill, and superstar Derrick Williams be able to counter the Huskies' Alex Oriakhi, Jeremy Lamb, and superstar Kemba Walker? It should be fun. Enjoy the tournament!
Friday, March 25, 2011
NCAA Basketball Tournament: Fifth Day Highlights and Lowlights
For awhile, Thursday was going remarkably well: San Diego State was handling Connecticut. Then the second game started, and BYU, including star Jimmer Fredette, decided to have a slow start against Florida. By the time they had fought their way into a 36-36 tie at halftime, BYU was fighting exhaustion and a hostile pro-SEC crowd.
BYU had an uphill battle, not just because of Florida's bigs and quick guards, but also due to the officiating crew's decision to "let them play." That decision heavily favored Florida, since they had a much deeper bench and could afford to have players beaten up. BYU didn't have that luxury.
BYU's scrappiness had to be commended, for they fought their way into overtime for the second year in a row against the Gators. However, by then Fredette was totally spent, with legs like jelly. Somehow, he had cut his chin on air during a non-foul. Somehow, he had been pushed and banged around while officials were studying the cheerleaders.
Is this an excuse for BYU's loss? No. Florida was the better team, regardless of the promote-thuggery officiating. They were bigger, and their guards played good defense for the most part. Coach Donovan's strategy was sound, and Fredette's teammates weren't able to stay consistently hot like they had been against Gonzaga. The Cougars had a very thin bench, thanks to spotty recruiting, two-year LDS missions, and the school's Honor Code, which had led to star guard Michael Lloyd (who had scored 22 against Florida last year) transferring out last spring and forward Brandon Davies being suspended for this year's postseason. Fredette was held scoreless in overtime, and Florida won 83-74.
While few could say BYU was the better team against Florida, most would say San Diego State was the better team against Connecticut. That's not to say that UConn didn't have the best player on the court, Kemba Walker, who scored 36 points in the victory. The Aztecs had great size, its own star guard D. J. Gay, and a supportive crowd. It did not have the favor of the officiating crew. When Walker did a flop after brushing by an Aztec at the beginning of a time-out, the officials called the Aztec with a technical foul. Two free throws later, the momentum had shifted, and the Huskies were on their way.
It's true the Aztecs did not play smart basketball down the stretch, with many missed opportunities and botched assignments. Still, the officials could have been more balanced.
By the end of the first two games, it looked like officiating crews had it in for teams from the West. That was not the case in the Arizona-Duke game, where the Wildcats from Tucson surprisingly received the lion's share of the calls. As a result, it was Duke getting pushed around. As a result, Arizona's Derrick Williams went wild, turning in a superhuman effort.
Williams had kept his team in the game during the first half when Duke held the advantage. A 19-2 second half run, assisted by several Blue Devils' foul trouble, put the Wildcats ahead to stay. Duke, favored by 8 1/2, lost by 16, 93-77. Coach K will have to wait until next season to break Bobby Knight's record for most career wins. Though disappointed, Coach K was again a model of decorum in defeat, graciously congratulating Williams and the rest of the Wildcats. The West is still alive!
The best game of the night, and the best coaching of the night, occurred in New Orleans between Butler and Wisconsin. Butler was in control for most of the game, but the Badgers fought back, showing tremendous character. Guard Shelvin Mack had an off game, but reliable Matt Howard was rock steady for the Bulldogs. Butler countered Wisconsin's size with quickness and teamwork. The Bulldogs held off the late Badger rally and won 61-54. Will Butler make it two years in a row in the Final Four? Almost as important, how much longer will Butler's Coach Brad Stevens remain with the small school?
It's about game time for Day Six. Time to pull for more underdogs: Virginia Commonwealth and Richmond. Enjoy the tournament!
BYU had an uphill battle, not just because of Florida's bigs and quick guards, but also due to the officiating crew's decision to "let them play." That decision heavily favored Florida, since they had a much deeper bench and could afford to have players beaten up. BYU didn't have that luxury.
BYU's scrappiness had to be commended, for they fought their way into overtime for the second year in a row against the Gators. However, by then Fredette was totally spent, with legs like jelly. Somehow, he had cut his chin on air during a non-foul. Somehow, he had been pushed and banged around while officials were studying the cheerleaders.
Is this an excuse for BYU's loss? No. Florida was the better team, regardless of the promote-thuggery officiating. They were bigger, and their guards played good defense for the most part. Coach Donovan's strategy was sound, and Fredette's teammates weren't able to stay consistently hot like they had been against Gonzaga. The Cougars had a very thin bench, thanks to spotty recruiting, two-year LDS missions, and the school's Honor Code, which had led to star guard Michael Lloyd (who had scored 22 against Florida last year) transferring out last spring and forward Brandon Davies being suspended for this year's postseason. Fredette was held scoreless in overtime, and Florida won 83-74.
While few could say BYU was the better team against Florida, most would say San Diego State was the better team against Connecticut. That's not to say that UConn didn't have the best player on the court, Kemba Walker, who scored 36 points in the victory. The Aztecs had great size, its own star guard D. J. Gay, and a supportive crowd. It did not have the favor of the officiating crew. When Walker did a flop after brushing by an Aztec at the beginning of a time-out, the officials called the Aztec with a technical foul. Two free throws later, the momentum had shifted, and the Huskies were on their way.
It's true the Aztecs did not play smart basketball down the stretch, with many missed opportunities and botched assignments. Still, the officials could have been more balanced.
By the end of the first two games, it looked like officiating crews had it in for teams from the West. That was not the case in the Arizona-Duke game, where the Wildcats from Tucson surprisingly received the lion's share of the calls. As a result, it was Duke getting pushed around. As a result, Arizona's Derrick Williams went wild, turning in a superhuman effort.
Williams had kept his team in the game during the first half when Duke held the advantage. A 19-2 second half run, assisted by several Blue Devils' foul trouble, put the Wildcats ahead to stay. Duke, favored by 8 1/2, lost by 16, 93-77. Coach K will have to wait until next season to break Bobby Knight's record for most career wins. Though disappointed, Coach K was again a model of decorum in defeat, graciously congratulating Williams and the rest of the Wildcats. The West is still alive!
The best game of the night, and the best coaching of the night, occurred in New Orleans between Butler and Wisconsin. Butler was in control for most of the game, but the Badgers fought back, showing tremendous character. Guard Shelvin Mack had an off game, but reliable Matt Howard was rock steady for the Bulldogs. Butler countered Wisconsin's size with quickness and teamwork. The Bulldogs held off the late Badger rally and won 61-54. Will Butler make it two years in a row in the Final Four? Almost as important, how much longer will Butler's Coach Brad Stevens remain with the small school?
It's about game time for Day Six. Time to pull for more underdogs: Virginia Commonwealth and Richmond. Enjoy the tournament!
Thursday, March 24, 2011
NCAA Basketball Tournament: Regional Semifinals Preview
With regional semifinal NCAA tournament action's start only thirty minutes away, here are seven wishes for what usually amounts to the best long weekend of the basketball season.
1. At least one of the three teams representing the West (BYU, Arizona, and San Diego State) wins. Arizona is the biggest underdog, but BYU is the true cinderella. San Diego State has the best chance of advancing.
2. At least one of the small-conference schools (Butler, Richmond, and VCU) wins.
3. Neither of the Big East schools (UConn nor Marquette) advances, to punish the Big East for receiving eleven bids and to put a stop to Eastern bias from the national media. Of course, ESPN, in UConn's backyard, will remain a Big East defender.
4. Neither of the Big Ten schools (Wisconsin nor Ohio State) advances, to punish them for receiving a ridiculously generous seven bids to the tourney.
5. There are no fights.
6. There are no serious injuries.
7. There are no more questionable calls or non-calls by the officiating crews.
I know, it sounds like Fantasyland.
Of the unmentioned teams, I wouldn't mind Kansas or Florida State winning it all. I picked the Jayhawks to become 2011 champions, and the Seminoles I respect for not wussing out on a nickname: they remain the Seminoles. San Diego State remains the Aztecs, too. However, declawed Marquette went from the Warriors and mascot Willie Wampum to the Golden Eagles in 1993.
As nicknames go, the Wildcats (Arizona and Kentucky), the Huskies (UConn), the Bulldogs (Butler), and Cougars (BYU) are blandly generic. The most distinctive or outright odd nicknames belong to Richmond (the Spiders), Wisconsin (the Badgers), Florida (the Gators), Ohio State (the Buckeyes), Duke (the Blue Devils, taken from a French light infantry division of World War I), and North Carolina (the Tar Heels).
It's almost game time. Enjoy the tournament!
1. At least one of the three teams representing the West (BYU, Arizona, and San Diego State) wins. Arizona is the biggest underdog, but BYU is the true cinderella. San Diego State has the best chance of advancing.
2. At least one of the small-conference schools (Butler, Richmond, and VCU) wins.
3. Neither of the Big East schools (UConn nor Marquette) advances, to punish the Big East for receiving eleven bids and to put a stop to Eastern bias from the national media. Of course, ESPN, in UConn's backyard, will remain a Big East defender.
4. Neither of the Big Ten schools (Wisconsin nor Ohio State) advances, to punish them for receiving a ridiculously generous seven bids to the tourney.
5. There are no fights.
6. There are no serious injuries.
7. There are no more questionable calls or non-calls by the officiating crews.
I know, it sounds like Fantasyland.
Of the unmentioned teams, I wouldn't mind Kansas or Florida State winning it all. I picked the Jayhawks to become 2011 champions, and the Seminoles I respect for not wussing out on a nickname: they remain the Seminoles. San Diego State remains the Aztecs, too. However, declawed Marquette went from the Warriors and mascot Willie Wampum to the Golden Eagles in 1993.
As nicknames go, the Wildcats (Arizona and Kentucky), the Huskies (UConn), the Bulldogs (Butler), and Cougars (BYU) are blandly generic. The most distinctive or outright odd nicknames belong to Richmond (the Spiders), Wisconsin (the Badgers), Florida (the Gators), Ohio State (the Buckeyes), Duke (the Blue Devils, taken from a French light infantry division of World War I), and North Carolina (the Tar Heels).
It's almost game time. Enjoy the tournament!
Ohio State Tattoogate, Part 2: The Tressel Messel
This is just a brief update of my lengthy School for Scandal blog. What has happened at The Ohio State University since the prior post? There have been three actions.
First, the NCAA dismissed the school's appeal of the six player suspensions as being without merit. Second, Coach Jim Tressel has publicly apologized for not being more straightforward/less disingenuous in covering up Tattoogate between the time he first received knowledge of it in April of 2010 and the time he was confronted by school officials with the e-mail evidence in January of 2011. Third, Coach Tressel has voluntarily modified his own suspension, boosting it from two games to five games to match the suspensions of five of the six players involved. What a messel!
Of course, the problem remains. Tressel's reaction reminds me of the Raymond Burr character in the classic Rear Window, who grows more and more paranoid as people and canines start sniffing and digging around the garden where he buried the dismembered remains of his wife.
Naturally, the NCAA continues to investigate Tattoogate and The Ohio State. Further sanctions could arise, especially if the school takes no further self-policing actions. Forfeiture of all wins in the 2010 season, including the Sugar Bowl, could be the result.
Loss of scholarships similar to USC's could also be a penalty.
Two more interesting items have surfaced since the previous post. First, former Buckeye star and excellent ESPN/ABC analyst Kirk Herbstreit made public the reasons for moving his family from Columbus to Nashville: a small percentage of rabid Buckeye fans who felt he wasn't homer enough when discussing all things Ohio State football. Sometimes, the truth hurts. Even Herbstreit was fed up with the persecution from the vocal minority.
Second, while the local media may be sugarcoating Tattoogate, the national media has been ratcheting up the scrutiny. One Fox Sports national show has implied that Coach Tressel's superiors must have been informed of the scandal by Tressel last spring and joined in the cover-up, or else Tressel would have been fired for lying to them. Does anyone recall Bruce Pearl's recent firing at Tennessee? This week, an Orlando Sentinel reporter has forecasted Tressel's firing and replacement with, get ready for this, former Florida coach Urban Meyer.
Speculation and rumor flourishes in such an unsettled environment. Will Coach Tressel become the fall guy for a massive conspiracy, or is Tressel truly the only guilty party among Buckeye officials? Certain Ohio State individuals could pop a blood vessel when contemplating this messel! Pursue justice; do not obstruct it.
First, the NCAA dismissed the school's appeal of the six player suspensions as being without merit. Second, Coach Jim Tressel has publicly apologized for not being more straightforward/less disingenuous in covering up Tattoogate between the time he first received knowledge of it in April of 2010 and the time he was confronted by school officials with the e-mail evidence in January of 2011. Third, Coach Tressel has voluntarily modified his own suspension, boosting it from two games to five games to match the suspensions of five of the six players involved. What a messel!
Of course, the problem remains. Tressel's reaction reminds me of the Raymond Burr character in the classic Rear Window, who grows more and more paranoid as people and canines start sniffing and digging around the garden where he buried the dismembered remains of his wife.
Naturally, the NCAA continues to investigate Tattoogate and The Ohio State. Further sanctions could arise, especially if the school takes no further self-policing actions. Forfeiture of all wins in the 2010 season, including the Sugar Bowl, could be the result.
Loss of scholarships similar to USC's could also be a penalty.
Two more interesting items have surfaced since the previous post. First, former Buckeye star and excellent ESPN/ABC analyst Kirk Herbstreit made public the reasons for moving his family from Columbus to Nashville: a small percentage of rabid Buckeye fans who felt he wasn't homer enough when discussing all things Ohio State football. Sometimes, the truth hurts. Even Herbstreit was fed up with the persecution from the vocal minority.
Second, while the local media may be sugarcoating Tattoogate, the national media has been ratcheting up the scrutiny. One Fox Sports national show has implied that Coach Tressel's superiors must have been informed of the scandal by Tressel last spring and joined in the cover-up, or else Tressel would have been fired for lying to them. Does anyone recall Bruce Pearl's recent firing at Tennessee? This week, an Orlando Sentinel reporter has forecasted Tressel's firing and replacement with, get ready for this, former Florida coach Urban Meyer.
Speculation and rumor flourishes in such an unsettled environment. Will Coach Tressel become the fall guy for a massive conspiracy, or is Tressel truly the only guilty party among Buckeye officials? Certain Ohio State individuals could pop a blood vessel when contemplating this messel! Pursue justice; do not obstruct it.
Monday, March 21, 2011
NCAA Basketball Tournament: Fourth Day Highlights
Okay, Sunday's games weren't perfect, but enough of them provided thrills, chills, and controversy to keep one's faith in the basketball tournament alive. Four games were incredibly close, although one never believed Michigan had a real chance against Duke. However, three of the blowouts were enjoyable and satisfying because the losers came from the Big Ten and the Big East.
Sunday proved beyond a reasonable doubt that the national media hype machine, as incarnated by ESPN, has once again unjustly prejudiced the NCAA tournament committee against deserving teams in smaller or western conferences. The prejudice applies not only to Big Dance invitations, but also to seedings of invitees.
Of Big Ten combatants Sunday, only The Ohio State prevailed in a cakewalk over George Mason, 98-66. Meanwhile, Illinois stumbled against a vastly superior Kansas, 73-59, Purdue was overwhelmed by cinderella Virginia Commonwealth, 94-76, and the aforementioned Michigan ran out of gas against Duke, 73-71. Of Big East teams Sunday, Syracuse was upset by fellow Big Easter Marquette, 66-62, and Notre Dame was crushed by Florida State, 71-57.
How could anybody seed Notre Dame and Purdue two and three respectively? Could it be related to the selection committee's crush on the Big Ten, courtesy of chairperson Gene Smith, the athletic director at The Ohio State? We know it's not objective, regardless of the numbers and statistics used. Could it be related to ESPN's over-exposure of the Big East? Chances are.
Eleven Big East teams were invited to the Big Dance. Only two of them, UConn and Marquette, made the Sweet Sixteen. Sir Charles said it best: the conference is over-rated. Still, don't be surprised if UConn makes the Final Four.
Seven Big Ten teams made the tournament, and only two of them remain as well, Wisconsin and The Ohio State. Only the Buckeyes have a shot at the Final Four.
Meanwhile, three Mountain West Conference teams were invited to the Big Dance, and two remain alive. The ACC has proven once again it is the class conference of basketball with three teams surviving to the Sweet Sixteen: Duke, Florida State, and North Carolina.
Speaking of UNC, does anybody really believe Washington was robbed in the final minutes by the refs in its 86-83 loss? Would .8 or .7 seconds added to the clock really have given the Huskies the win? I think not. UW was playing lights out for thirty minutes. They ran out of steam at the end, with bad turnovers and poor decisions. Nobody would argue that Washington was the better team. Yet, the Huskies showed up and put up a great effort against a superior and deeper Tar Heel team. Washington's performance proved that the Pac-10 was as under-rated as the Big East was over-rated.
Finally, the Arizona-Texas game showed off great athleticism, mediocre coaching, and substandard officiating. Longhorns fans are right to question the five-second call and the final no-call. They shouldn't forget prior no-calls and bad calls, however, which evened things out. Arizona almost choked at the end, and it's hard to believe they will be advancing any further, but they did show up and played tough. The Wildcats are back.
It's great to have so many small schools in the Sweet Sixteen, two of whom are located in Richmond, Virginia: the Richmond Spiders and the VCU Rams. Will Butler do it again? Can Duke give Coach K another title? Will BYU ride Jimmer Fredette to the Final Four?
Will VCU be the first team in tournament history to go 7-0? Will The Ohio State find some of its basketball players to be recipients of discounted tattoos and cash for autographed memorabilia? Will they stay quiet or tell the NCAA? Stay tuned.
Sunday proved beyond a reasonable doubt that the national media hype machine, as incarnated by ESPN, has once again unjustly prejudiced the NCAA tournament committee against deserving teams in smaller or western conferences. The prejudice applies not only to Big Dance invitations, but also to seedings of invitees.
Of Big Ten combatants Sunday, only The Ohio State prevailed in a cakewalk over George Mason, 98-66. Meanwhile, Illinois stumbled against a vastly superior Kansas, 73-59, Purdue was overwhelmed by cinderella Virginia Commonwealth, 94-76, and the aforementioned Michigan ran out of gas against Duke, 73-71. Of Big East teams Sunday, Syracuse was upset by fellow Big Easter Marquette, 66-62, and Notre Dame was crushed by Florida State, 71-57.
How could anybody seed Notre Dame and Purdue two and three respectively? Could it be related to the selection committee's crush on the Big Ten, courtesy of chairperson Gene Smith, the athletic director at The Ohio State? We know it's not objective, regardless of the numbers and statistics used. Could it be related to ESPN's over-exposure of the Big East? Chances are.
Eleven Big East teams were invited to the Big Dance. Only two of them, UConn and Marquette, made the Sweet Sixteen. Sir Charles said it best: the conference is over-rated. Still, don't be surprised if UConn makes the Final Four.
Seven Big Ten teams made the tournament, and only two of them remain as well, Wisconsin and The Ohio State. Only the Buckeyes have a shot at the Final Four.
Meanwhile, three Mountain West Conference teams were invited to the Big Dance, and two remain alive. The ACC has proven once again it is the class conference of basketball with three teams surviving to the Sweet Sixteen: Duke, Florida State, and North Carolina.
Speaking of UNC, does anybody really believe Washington was robbed in the final minutes by the refs in its 86-83 loss? Would .8 or .7 seconds added to the clock really have given the Huskies the win? I think not. UW was playing lights out for thirty minutes. They ran out of steam at the end, with bad turnovers and poor decisions. Nobody would argue that Washington was the better team. Yet, the Huskies showed up and put up a great effort against a superior and deeper Tar Heel team. Washington's performance proved that the Pac-10 was as under-rated as the Big East was over-rated.
Finally, the Arizona-Texas game showed off great athleticism, mediocre coaching, and substandard officiating. Longhorns fans are right to question the five-second call and the final no-call. They shouldn't forget prior no-calls and bad calls, however, which evened things out. Arizona almost choked at the end, and it's hard to believe they will be advancing any further, but they did show up and played tough. The Wildcats are back.
It's great to have so many small schools in the Sweet Sixteen, two of whom are located in Richmond, Virginia: the Richmond Spiders and the VCU Rams. Will Butler do it again? Can Duke give Coach K another title? Will BYU ride Jimmer Fredette to the Final Four?
Will VCU be the first team in tournament history to go 7-0? Will The Ohio State find some of its basketball players to be recipients of discounted tattoos and cash for autographed memorabilia? Will they stay quiet or tell the NCAA? Stay tuned.
Sunday, March 20, 2011
NCAA Basketball Tournament: Third Day Highlights
Can you believe how wondrous was Saturday's NCAA tourney action? Apart from UCLA's and Kansas State's flatulent performances, the games provided plenty of action and drama.
Sure, Florida had the advantage of a home crowd and near-home refs in pulling off a 73-65 victory over UCLA in Tampa. Still, the Bruins were not sharp at crucial times. Wisconsin plodded their way to a 70-65 win over K-State because the Wildcats were shooting too often like Stevie Wonder and Ray Charles. The Badgers are not Final Four material.
So much for the unpleasant news. The rest of the day was fantastic. Butler's freakish 71-70 triumph over "superleague" Big East Pittsburgh makes the Bulldogs a legitimate cinderella for the second year in a row. With great coaching and better recruiting of late, Butler better be taken seriously by opposing teams. Could they make it to the Final Four again? Even without early-to-NBA star Gordon Heyward, the answer is yes.
After a lackluster first half, Kentucky (missing several of last year's stars du to the lure of the NBA) showed their true colors and humbled hard-working but erratic West Virginia, 71-63. Was it sad to see another Big East team go down, this one led by DUI Bob? No. Will Kentucky make the Final Four? Not likely.
The Richmond-Morehead State and BYU-Gonzaga games were not that close, but they continued positive stories. One cinderella beat another when the Spiders stopped Morehead's dream, 65-48. The biggest highlight there was Sir Charles mocking a father in the stands who was wearing a Spiderman costume.
BYU finally found their offensive groove for the first time since suspending power forward Brandon Davies, which enabled them to roll over usually-tough Gonzaga, 89-67. It wasn't all Jimmer Fredette, but the potential Player of the Year did make several unbelievable shots and passes. True, BYU did not get all the calls, but they had a location advantage like Florida: they were playing at altitude in Denver, and BYU's Provo is at altitude as well. What are BYU's chances of a Final Four appearance? If they get by Florida next week, the chances are good. Will they get by Florida? Not likely.
UConn handled Cincinnati 69-58, in a Big East showdown. For Big East haters, the game provided a no-win scenario since a Big East team had to win. The good news? A Big East team had to lose. The Huskies remain a likely Final Four participant, even with a moral reprobate of a coach who will be suspended for the first three games of the 2011-2012 season.
Finally, there was the terrific double-overtime victory San Diego State achieved over Temple. The Aztecs had the talent and the coach, but Temple had the tough attitude and the will--until the end. Can San Diego State advance to the Final Four? They play next week in Anaheim in front of a predominantly SoCal crowd, so the answer has to be yes.
It was a good day for the Big Ten, the SEC, and the Mountain West. It was a bad day for the over-rated Big East, with three teams losing and only one winning. Three Big East teams play today, with only one guaranteed a victory. If Notre Dame loses, that would give the "superconference" only as many teams in the Sweet Sixteen as the Mountain West and SEC have and possibly less than the Big Ten and ACC will have.
We can only hope at least one of the cinderellas makes the Final Four, be it Richmond, Virginia Commonwealth, George Mason, or Butler from the East, or BYU, Arizona, or San Diego State from the West.
Enjoy the tournament!
Sure, Florida had the advantage of a home crowd and near-home refs in pulling off a 73-65 victory over UCLA in Tampa. Still, the Bruins were not sharp at crucial times. Wisconsin plodded their way to a 70-65 win over K-State because the Wildcats were shooting too often like Stevie Wonder and Ray Charles. The Badgers are not Final Four material.
So much for the unpleasant news. The rest of the day was fantastic. Butler's freakish 71-70 triumph over "superleague" Big East Pittsburgh makes the Bulldogs a legitimate cinderella for the second year in a row. With great coaching and better recruiting of late, Butler better be taken seriously by opposing teams. Could they make it to the Final Four again? Even without early-to-NBA star Gordon Heyward, the answer is yes.
After a lackluster first half, Kentucky (missing several of last year's stars du to the lure of the NBA) showed their true colors and humbled hard-working but erratic West Virginia, 71-63. Was it sad to see another Big East team go down, this one led by DUI Bob? No. Will Kentucky make the Final Four? Not likely.
The Richmond-Morehead State and BYU-Gonzaga games were not that close, but they continued positive stories. One cinderella beat another when the Spiders stopped Morehead's dream, 65-48. The biggest highlight there was Sir Charles mocking a father in the stands who was wearing a Spiderman costume.
BYU finally found their offensive groove for the first time since suspending power forward Brandon Davies, which enabled them to roll over usually-tough Gonzaga, 89-67. It wasn't all Jimmer Fredette, but the potential Player of the Year did make several unbelievable shots and passes. True, BYU did not get all the calls, but they had a location advantage like Florida: they were playing at altitude in Denver, and BYU's Provo is at altitude as well. What are BYU's chances of a Final Four appearance? If they get by Florida next week, the chances are good. Will they get by Florida? Not likely.
UConn handled Cincinnati 69-58, in a Big East showdown. For Big East haters, the game provided a no-win scenario since a Big East team had to win. The good news? A Big East team had to lose. The Huskies remain a likely Final Four participant, even with a moral reprobate of a coach who will be suspended for the first three games of the 2011-2012 season.
Finally, there was the terrific double-overtime victory San Diego State achieved over Temple. The Aztecs had the talent and the coach, but Temple had the tough attitude and the will--until the end. Can San Diego State advance to the Final Four? They play next week in Anaheim in front of a predominantly SoCal crowd, so the answer has to be yes.
It was a good day for the Big Ten, the SEC, and the Mountain West. It was a bad day for the over-rated Big East, with three teams losing and only one winning. Three Big East teams play today, with only one guaranteed a victory. If Notre Dame loses, that would give the "superconference" only as many teams in the Sweet Sixteen as the Mountain West and SEC have and possibly less than the Big Ten and ACC will have.
We can only hope at least one of the cinderellas makes the Final Four, be it Richmond, Virginia Commonwealth, George Mason, or Butler from the East, or BYU, Arizona, or San Diego State from the West.
Enjoy the tournament!
Saturday, March 19, 2011
NCAA Basketball Tournament: Second Day Highlights
After a sensational opening day of the real first round (now called Round Two), yesterday's second half of the round was far less compelling. As a matter of fact, it bordered on disappointing.
First, there was the issue of overhyped Big East and Big Ten schools advancing to the second round (now called Round Three). While the Big East hit some tumbling blocks, including Georgetown's surrender to potential cinderella Virginia Commonwealth and Villanova's nail-biting loss to potential cinderella George Mason, the league still had three victories Friday. Notre Dame and Syracuse won as expected, but the crucial game of the day for the conference was Marquette's convincing victory over #5 seed Xavier. It wasn't as close as the final score of 66-55 indicated.
Even worse to this observer than the Big East's surge was the Big Ten's immaculate performance Friday. Michigan and Ohio State each won by about 30, while Purdue won by about 20. In the closest game for conference teams, Illinois beat UNLV 73-62, although that was also a blow out until the last few minutes.
Entering today's action, the Big East had seven of its eleven teams still standing and the Big Ten had five of its seven teams remaining.
Second, there was the issue of lopsided games. While Thursday provided plenty of drama (9 of 16 games decided by single digits), Friday produced very few games watchable until the end. Only five games were decided by less than ten points, and only three of them were truly engaging: Washington's 68-65 victory over Georgia, Arizona's 77-75 edging of Memphis, and George Mason's 61-57 heart-stopper over Villanova.
Of course, Villanova didn't belong in the tourney because it had lost its last five games of the season. In this case, justice was served. The George Mason coach provided another highlight at game's end, when he gave emotional praise to his Colonial conference as well as to his school and players: another tremendous performance.
Is it just me, or does the young Arizona coach look like a reject from a Goodfellas audition? Is it just me, or does Syracuse, with its relatively new emasculated nickname change to the Orange, have the lamest mascot in all of Division One? I know, there is the matter of the equally emasculated nickname change and resultant mascot change to the Stanford Cardinal dancing tree.
Anyway, the West had another strong performance Friday, off-setting some of the disappointment. Of the three teams in Pacific or Mountain time zones, only UNLV was a no-show. The Pac-10, after a rocky start of its own when USC failed to show up in a play-in game earlier in the week, has won its other three early games.
What will Saturday bring? Hopefully, the day will produce more close games, more West wins, more Big East and Big Ten losses, and more great plays. With Jimmer Fredette and BYU playing today, the last wish is a given. Enjoy the tournament!
First, there was the issue of overhyped Big East and Big Ten schools advancing to the second round (now called Round Three). While the Big East hit some tumbling blocks, including Georgetown's surrender to potential cinderella Virginia Commonwealth and Villanova's nail-biting loss to potential cinderella George Mason, the league still had three victories Friday. Notre Dame and Syracuse won as expected, but the crucial game of the day for the conference was Marquette's convincing victory over #5 seed Xavier. It wasn't as close as the final score of 66-55 indicated.
Even worse to this observer than the Big East's surge was the Big Ten's immaculate performance Friday. Michigan and Ohio State each won by about 30, while Purdue won by about 20. In the closest game for conference teams, Illinois beat UNLV 73-62, although that was also a blow out until the last few minutes.
Entering today's action, the Big East had seven of its eleven teams still standing and the Big Ten had five of its seven teams remaining.
Second, there was the issue of lopsided games. While Thursday provided plenty of drama (9 of 16 games decided by single digits), Friday produced very few games watchable until the end. Only five games were decided by less than ten points, and only three of them were truly engaging: Washington's 68-65 victory over Georgia, Arizona's 77-75 edging of Memphis, and George Mason's 61-57 heart-stopper over Villanova.
Of course, Villanova didn't belong in the tourney because it had lost its last five games of the season. In this case, justice was served. The George Mason coach provided another highlight at game's end, when he gave emotional praise to his Colonial conference as well as to his school and players: another tremendous performance.
Is it just me, or does the young Arizona coach look like a reject from a Goodfellas audition? Is it just me, or does Syracuse, with its relatively new emasculated nickname change to the Orange, have the lamest mascot in all of Division One? I know, there is the matter of the equally emasculated nickname change and resultant mascot change to the Stanford Cardinal dancing tree.
Anyway, the West had another strong performance Friday, off-setting some of the disappointment. Of the three teams in Pacific or Mountain time zones, only UNLV was a no-show. The Pac-10, after a rocky start of its own when USC failed to show up in a play-in game earlier in the week, has won its other three early games.
What will Saturday bring? Hopefully, the day will produce more close games, more West wins, more Big East and Big Ten losses, and more great plays. With Jimmer Fredette and BYU playing today, the last wish is a given. Enjoy the tournament!
Friday, March 18, 2011
NCAA Basketball Tournament: First Day Highlights
The real Day One of the NCAA men's tournament produced some great drama, plays, and emotions. For drama, Six of the 16 games were decided by three points or less. For plays, just watch BYU's Jimmer Fredette. For emotion, I can't decide what is more beautiful: watching a Big East team with a moral coach like Rick Pitino lose to a Morehead State or watching a team from the West pound and humble a Big East team with a former ESPN broadcaster.
Either way, the Big East is proving they didn't deserve eleven teams in the tournament. Sure, UConn and Pittsburgh are legitimate title contenders, but as Sir Charles said more than once, the conference is vastly over-rated.
Speaking of over-rated, it was sensational to watch Penn State and Michigan State lose, showing how the Big 10 did not deserve seven teams in the tournament.
Other highlights include Princeton's valiant defeat against Kentucky and Butler's win against ODU. Butler could be the real cinderella again this year: what a coach!
Speaking of good coaches, UCLA and San Diego State have them, and that makes them both the best chance for a team from the West making the Final Four.
Who did I pick to win it all? I might be a defender (and some would say homer) of the West, but I'm also a realist: I took Kansas.
Finally, the television coverage has it right. Not since the ESPN early-round coverage days has it been so complete. And the analysis? While Sir Charles was rather sedate yesterday, he's still Sir Charles, and he has the Big East hyperbole right. He deflates it, too.
Enjoy Day Two!
Either way, the Big East is proving they didn't deserve eleven teams in the tournament. Sure, UConn and Pittsburgh are legitimate title contenders, but as Sir Charles said more than once, the conference is vastly over-rated.
Speaking of over-rated, it was sensational to watch Penn State and Michigan State lose, showing how the Big 10 did not deserve seven teams in the tournament.
Other highlights include Princeton's valiant defeat against Kentucky and Butler's win against ODU. Butler could be the real cinderella again this year: what a coach!
Speaking of good coaches, UCLA and San Diego State have them, and that makes them both the best chance for a team from the West making the Final Four.
Who did I pick to win it all? I might be a defender (and some would say homer) of the West, but I'm also a realist: I took Kansas.
Finally, the television coverage has it right. Not since the ESPN early-round coverage days has it been so complete. And the analysis? While Sir Charles was rather sedate yesterday, he's still Sir Charles, and he has the Big East hyperbole right. He deflates it, too.
Enjoy Day Two!
Thursday, March 17, 2011
March Madness Selection Committee: Corrections and Further Observations
First, allow me to provide a couple corrections to my previous column's questionable math and labels two days ago. As you may recall, my "modest proposal" called for two teams from each of the 31 automatic qualifying conferences to receive bids to the Division One NCAA Men's Basketball Championship Tournament. Since there are now 68 teams in the tourney, that leaves six, not five, at-large bids to be granted judiciously in six separate conferences. I apologize for the bad math.
Do the at-large bids have to go to the six BCS football power conferences? No. We're talking basketball, not football. Subdivisions and categories of Division One conferences only apply to football and the football postseason. Those six major conferences receive enough special treatment in the biggest revenue-generating sport. Why not be more egalitarian in the other sports? For example, this year the Big East would deserve a third team, but so would the Mountain West, a mid-major conference. Likewise, the Big 10 would deserve a third team, but so would the Atlantic 10, a non-football conference.
My previous column also needed more clarity and accuracy when it came to describing the schools and conferences. Obviously, mid-major schools only come from the mid-major football conferences: Conference USA, Mid-American Conference, Mountain West Conference, Sun Belt Conference, and the Western Athletic Conference. With that in mind, schools from the 12 championship subdivision conferences or schools from the eight non-football conferences and all independent schools associated therewith should have been called something besides "mid-major" or "small school." Apologies again.
The term "small school" should only be used for Division Three and NAIA colleges, although many of them have enrollments larger than 7500. Perhaps the term should just be shelved.
With corrections out of the way, let me make a few more observations. First, what's with the new nomenclature for early tournament rounds? I don't have a problem with calling the first four play-in games "The First Four." It is technically a pre-round, though, not a First Round. Where it becomes problematic is when the first full round played on Thursday and Friday is now called Round Two/Second Round and the second full round played on Saturday and Sunday is now called Round Three/Third Round. Really?
We all know what this name change is all about. It's about gradually preparing the public mindset to accept what for many is extremely unpopular: the expansion of the tournament field to 128. I know. I should learn my lesson and avoid any further explorations of math and numbers. The trouble is, I can't.
A solid analogy for the round's name change is what the Sacramento Kings franchise of the NBA is currently doing. Of late, the Kings have been wearing uniforms with the word "Royals" replacing "Kings." This references the old franchise name when the team played in Rochester and Cincinnati. It also portends of the future, an unpopular future for many Sacramento fans, as the team prepares to relocate to Anaheim next year. The NHL L. A. Kings will force a name change for the NBA Kings when/if they enter their market. To most observers, the move is a foregone conclusion.
Some purists find the prospects of an NCAA Championship Tournament almost doubling to 128 an
appalling thought. I'm one of those. Don't we have enough Division One postseason slots now with the 32 found in the NIT, the 24 found in the CollegeInsider.com, and the 16 found in the College Basketball Invitational in addition to the 68 already set in the NCAA? I believe that makes a total of 140 Division One schools playing basketball in this year's postseason. Pretty good, huh?
If the NCAA goes in the near future to a full first round rather than just a First Four, that would boost the total to 200 teams. It sounds ludicrous. It sounds like Division One college football, where 70 of the 120 schools in the Football Bowl Subdivision qualify for postseason play. Can you spell "saturation"? There are 346 Division One men's basketball teams, so well over half would be playing postseason ball under that scenario. It means all conferences would be like the Big 10 and the Big East this year, where almost two-thirds of the teams qualified for postseason tournaments. Pass the smelling salts.
Do the at-large bids have to go to the six BCS football power conferences? No. We're talking basketball, not football. Subdivisions and categories of Division One conferences only apply to football and the football postseason. Those six major conferences receive enough special treatment in the biggest revenue-generating sport. Why not be more egalitarian in the other sports? For example, this year the Big East would deserve a third team, but so would the Mountain West, a mid-major conference. Likewise, the Big 10 would deserve a third team, but so would the Atlantic 10, a non-football conference.
My previous column also needed more clarity and accuracy when it came to describing the schools and conferences. Obviously, mid-major schools only come from the mid-major football conferences: Conference USA, Mid-American Conference, Mountain West Conference, Sun Belt Conference, and the Western Athletic Conference. With that in mind, schools from the 12 championship subdivision conferences or schools from the eight non-football conferences and all independent schools associated therewith should have been called something besides "mid-major" or "small school." Apologies again.
The term "small school" should only be used for Division Three and NAIA colleges, although many of them have enrollments larger than 7500. Perhaps the term should just be shelved.
With corrections out of the way, let me make a few more observations. First, what's with the new nomenclature for early tournament rounds? I don't have a problem with calling the first four play-in games "The First Four." It is technically a pre-round, though, not a First Round. Where it becomes problematic is when the first full round played on Thursday and Friday is now called Round Two/Second Round and the second full round played on Saturday and Sunday is now called Round Three/Third Round. Really?
We all know what this name change is all about. It's about gradually preparing the public mindset to accept what for many is extremely unpopular: the expansion of the tournament field to 128. I know. I should learn my lesson and avoid any further explorations of math and numbers. The trouble is, I can't.
A solid analogy for the round's name change is what the Sacramento Kings franchise of the NBA is currently doing. Of late, the Kings have been wearing uniforms with the word "Royals" replacing "Kings." This references the old franchise name when the team played in Rochester and Cincinnati. It also portends of the future, an unpopular future for many Sacramento fans, as the team prepares to relocate to Anaheim next year. The NHL L. A. Kings will force a name change for the NBA Kings when/if they enter their market. To most observers, the move is a foregone conclusion.
Some purists find the prospects of an NCAA Championship Tournament almost doubling to 128 an
appalling thought. I'm one of those. Don't we have enough Division One postseason slots now with the 32 found in the NIT, the 24 found in the CollegeInsider.com, and the 16 found in the College Basketball Invitational in addition to the 68 already set in the NCAA? I believe that makes a total of 140 Division One schools playing basketball in this year's postseason. Pretty good, huh?
If the NCAA goes in the near future to a full first round rather than just a First Four, that would boost the total to 200 teams. It sounds ludicrous. It sounds like Division One college football, where 70 of the 120 schools in the Football Bowl Subdivision qualify for postseason play. Can you spell "saturation"? There are 346 Division One men's basketball teams, so well over half would be playing postseason ball under that scenario. It means all conferences would be like the Big 10 and the Big East this year, where almost two-thirds of the teams qualified for postseason tournaments. Pass the smelling salts.
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
March Madness Selection Committee: A Modest Proposal
Is anybody else sick of the usual biases that surface each and every year when the NCAA men's basketball selection committee makes its choices and seedings public for the championship tournament? Should we expect anything different? Can we hope for something different? Under present rules and conditions, I think not. It is time to propose something new that would actually simplify the selection process and reduce anti-West, anti-mid-major biases.
First, some good news: the tournament as it stands is still terrific drama, with strategy and athleticism to spare. Unlike in football, non-BCS schools from mid-major conferences have a chance to compete for the number one spot in basketball. All they have to do, once selected for the tournament, is win six or seven games in a row.
More good news? Every tournament game will be shown in its entirety everywhere in the USA that offers CBS, TNT, TBS, CBS College Sports, and truTV. The great in-studio TNT crew of Ernie Johnson, Kenny Smith, and Charles Barkley will also be on hand for much of the action.
Other good news? The ten members of the NCAA selection committee are carefully selected to represent a cross-section of schools and conferences large and small, from East to West.
More good news? Every tournament game will be shown in its entirety everywhere in the USA that offers CBS, TNT, TBS, CBS College Sports, and truTV. The great in-studio TNT crew of Ernie Johnson, Kenny Smith, and Charles Barkley will also be on hand for much of the action.
Other good news? The ten members of the NCAA selection committee are carefully selected to represent a cross-section of schools and conferences large and small, from East to West.
This year, the committee consists of athletic directors from UConn (Big East), Wake Forest (ACC), Ohio State (Big 10), Xavier (Atlantic 10), SMU (Conference-USA), UT-San Antonio (Southland), Utah State (WAC) and UC Riverside (Big West), as well as conference commissioners from the Big 12 and the Big Sky. The chairperson is Gene Smith of The Ohio State University (no surprise). Noticeably absent are any representatives from the other major conferences, the Pac-10 and the SEC.
Did they get it right? Are the selections and seedings properly objective? For the most part, given the complicated rules and conditions they work under (or set themselves), I would say perhaps. However, there is room for improvement. Discrimination against smaller schools, smaller conferences, and schools in the West still runs rampant.
The committee hides behind allegedly objective criteria (won-loss records, road records, records against Top 25 foes, recent trends, RPI's, strength of schedules, and strength of conferences) just as the BCS committee hides behind its allegedly objective criteria to retain the status quo in major college football making it virtually impossible for non-BCS schools and conferences to become BCS eligible in future bowl games or seasons.
I know some observers focus on poor Colorado, Virginia Tech and Alabama this year. Yes, Virginia Tech was robbed again. But Colorado? The team finished sixth in the Big 12. I hate to say this because I normally defend teams in the West, but were they really robbed? Was Cal robbed for being denied a tourney bid when they tied for fourth in the Pac-10 with USC and got thoroughly thrashed in the conference tournament by those same inconsistent Trojans? I think not. Nevertheless, better Cal and Colorado than Marquette and Villanova, Big East stocking stuffers. It would be better for geographic diversity.
Let us focus on second-place teams in mid-major conferences, particularly those in the West (from Hawaii, Pacific, or Mountain time zones). I contend that many of them have been robbed for many years. Oftentimes, strength of conference and strength of schedule are a matter of impressions, not just records.
What is the disturbing rule and related vicious cycle pertaining thereto? Selection committee members must base their questions and decisions on games they have actually seen in their entirety, whether in person, on live television, or on DVR. Four members live in the eastern time zone. Three members live in the central time zone. How many stay up late to watch live games from the West when they have full-time day jobs? How many are dedicated enough to take time from their busy schedules to watch in full games from previous nights on their DVR's? How much fun is it for anybody to watch a game in its entirety when the result is already known via the internet or newspaper?
I submit old games aren't watched much due to human nature. The drama for a competitive contest where the result is known in advance is lower than the drama during Final Jeopardy when the leader has more than double the score of his or her closest competitor. That means most discussions and questions concern central and eastern time zone schools. That, combined with the already-prevalent national media bias for Midwest and East teams, creates a perfect storm for recruits and a vicious cycle for schools in the West.
A star recruit wants to attend a power conference school, a school that receives maximum media exposure, media favoritism, and selection committee preference (subconciously or rule-related consciously). The player signs to play with a power conference team, the team flourishes in its non-conference schedule, the conference flourishes with its NCAA tournament selections, and the non-power conferences continue to decline in strength, perceived and actual. The cycle continues.
Is it a healthy cycle? Exaggerating cause and effect, does the tournament really need eleven teams from the Big East and seven teams from the Big 10? I thought the end-of-season major conference tournaments meant more than just seedings in the NCAA tourney. Who knew the eleventh-place game was the most important in the Big East tourney? What a joke! The conference tournaments aren't going anywhere: they are all great revenue producers.
Let us focus on second-place teams in mid-major conferences, particularly those in the West (from Hawaii, Pacific, or Mountain time zones). I contend that many of them have been robbed for many years. Oftentimes, strength of conference and strength of schedule are a matter of impressions, not just records.
What is the disturbing rule and related vicious cycle pertaining thereto? Selection committee members must base their questions and decisions on games they have actually seen in their entirety, whether in person, on live television, or on DVR. Four members live in the eastern time zone. Three members live in the central time zone. How many stay up late to watch live games from the West when they have full-time day jobs? How many are dedicated enough to take time from their busy schedules to watch in full games from previous nights on their DVR's? How much fun is it for anybody to watch a game in its entirety when the result is already known via the internet or newspaper?
I submit old games aren't watched much due to human nature. The drama for a competitive contest where the result is known in advance is lower than the drama during Final Jeopardy when the leader has more than double the score of his or her closest competitor. That means most discussions and questions concern central and eastern time zone schools. That, combined with the already-prevalent national media bias for Midwest and East teams, creates a perfect storm for recruits and a vicious cycle for schools in the West.
A star recruit wants to attend a power conference school, a school that receives maximum media exposure, media favoritism, and selection committee preference (subconciously or rule-related consciously). The player signs to play with a power conference team, the team flourishes in its non-conference schedule, the conference flourishes with its NCAA tournament selections, and the non-power conferences continue to decline in strength, perceived and actual. The cycle continues.
Is it a healthy cycle? Exaggerating cause and effect, does the tournament really need eleven teams from the Big East and seven teams from the Big 10? I thought the end-of-season major conference tournaments meant more than just seedings in the NCAA tourney. Who knew the eleventh-place game was the most important in the Big East tourney? What a joke! The conference tournaments aren't going anywhere: they are all great revenue producers.
Even with the expanded tournament field (from 65 to 68, although 64 is just right), BCS major conferences accounted for (hogged) 30 of the 37 at-large bids. Zzzzzzz. Wake me when it's over. I thought diversity was important, not just as a concept but as something to practice. Evidently, I'm mistaken.
Allow me to make a modest proposal that would make the NCAA basketball tournament much more exciting and diverse. At this time, there are 31 automatic bids and 37 at-large bids. I suggest that each automatic qualifying conference be given two bids, meaning there would only be five at-large bids. Three teams each from the Big East, Big 10, ACC, SEC, and Pac-10 is acceptable.
Think how much easier and faster the selection committee would have it. Seedings would still be somewhat controversial, but pairings and bracketing would be easy, too. Keeping teams from the same conference in different regional brackets would be a cinch.
Allow me to make a modest proposal that would make the NCAA basketball tournament much more exciting and diverse. At this time, there are 31 automatic bids and 37 at-large bids. I suggest that each automatic qualifying conference be given two bids, meaning there would only be five at-large bids. Three teams each from the Big East, Big 10, ACC, SEC, and Pac-10 is acceptable.
Think how much easier and faster the selection committee would have it. Seedings would still be somewhat controversial, but pairings and bracketing would be easy, too. Keeping teams from the same conference in different regional brackets would be a cinch.
What is the best reason for making this proposal a reality? It would make college basketball more like college football in that every game would count. Teams from power conferences couldn't just coast through the regular season and conference tournament knowing they would qualify for the Big Dance as long as they finished with a record above .500. It also wouldn't penalize teams and players from mid-major conferences who might steamroll through the regular season but lose a tournament bid on a fluke last-second shot against them in a conference tournament game.
With the new rule, both the regular season champ and the conference tournament champ would qualify for the Big Dance if they were two different teams. If they were the same team, then the second conference qualifier would be the team with the second-best conference record percentage-wise, including conference tournament games.
I also propose eliminating the games-in-their-entirety viewing rule which works against teams in the West without national reputations (meaning every school except UCLA, Arizona, and Gonzaga). I suggest that highlights from ESPN or another media outlet should suffice so more committee members could at least get some cursory knowledge of all of the conferences in the West.
With the new rule, both the regular season champ and the conference tournament champ would qualify for the Big Dance if they were two different teams. If they were the same team, then the second conference qualifier would be the team with the second-best conference record percentage-wise, including conference tournament games.
I also propose eliminating the games-in-their-entirety viewing rule which works against teams in the West without national reputations (meaning every school except UCLA, Arizona, and Gonzaga). I suggest that highlights from ESPN or another media outlet should suffice so more committee members could at least get some cursory knowledge of all of the conferences in the West.
Imagine looking forward to a 2011 NCAA championship tournament with teams like Saint Mary's, Long Beach State, Montana, Boise State, and Harvard instead of Marquette, Villanova, Michigan State, Penn State, and Vanderbilt.
In the long run, does it really matter who the bottom 32-36 teams are in the tournament when one of the favorites almost always wins? No. Therefore, make the Big Dance fun again by selecting diversity over virtual power conference tournament replays for each of the four regional brackets.
As an aside, did you know selection committee members are also responsible for assigning officials to handle the tournament games? Hopefully, the members never allow for a conflict of interest to occur on the court. With Mr. Gene Smith of The Ohio State University in charge, I'm sure there is nothing to worry about. Or is there?
In the long run, does it really matter who the bottom 32-36 teams are in the tournament when one of the favorites almost always wins? No. Therefore, make the Big Dance fun again by selecting diversity over virtual power conference tournament replays for each of the four regional brackets.
As an aside, did you know selection committee members are also responsible for assigning officials to handle the tournament games? Hopefully, the members never allow for a conflict of interest to occur on the court. With Mr. Gene Smith of The Ohio State University in charge, I'm sure there is nothing to worry about. Or is there?
Saturday, March 12, 2011
The Schools for Scandal This Week: Ohio State and Oregon
Unlike Richard Sheridan's witty dialogue in his 1777 play, The School for Scandal, recent comments made by Oregon and The Ohio State representatives concerning alleged or proven NCAA violations take its audience for complete imbeciles or gullible innocents. Is it a sign of the further dumbing down of language and culture or is it a sign of something far worse--complicit erosion of values between school and society, including rabid fan bases? In other words, the fan base expects the school to say something, anything, to deflect the scrutiny of the national media. Then, the fan base expects the storm to pass and life to proceed as usual. Why? Because the school president, athletic director, or head coach has met his or her job description by addressing the issue, even if said address occurs in skate-around fashion.
The potential scandal involving the Oregon football program concerns payments made to two individuals in Texas: up to $25,000.00 went to Willie Lyles of Complete Scouting Services in Houston (including $16,500.00 that went to the service itself) and $3745.00 to Baron Flenory of New Level Athletics and Badger Sports Elite 7-on-7 football camps. Most big-time BCS football programs do pay for recruiting services, and the checks came from the school itself above-board, not from an avid Ducks booster like Phil Knight of Nike. So where's the infraction?
Flenory's Badger football camps have spawned Ducks signees DeAnthony Thomas, Cliff Harris, Dior Mathis, Tacoi Sumler, and Anthony Wallace (the latter of whom he personally trained). Flenory played under Oregon head coach Chip Kelly when the latter was the offensive coordinator at New Hampshire.
Willie Lyles possibly worked as a trainer for current Ducks star LaMichael James and definitely worked as a trainer for future Ducks star Lache Seastrunk before joining the recruiting service. Curiously, the $8500.00 payment balance was made to Willie Lyles personally after the recruiting entity let him go and after Seastrunk signed his letter of intent with the Ducks.
Still, the main question is one of steering. Did Flenory and Lyles steer these prospects to Eugene, or was their arrival purely coincidental? If it was coincidental, why were the payments so unusually large? Were other schools making similar payments to Lyles or Flenory?
According to Oregon athletic director Rob Mullens, the school's compliance office signed off on the payments. Let's see, who do such office personnel work for? Would anyone there contradict Mr. Mullens in public? According to Mullens, the subject recruiting services met NCAA rules. Translation: it is Oregon's position that no steering of prospects/recruits took place.
If steering occurred, Flenory and Lyles would be considered Oregon boosters, and any payment to them would be considered a violation of Bylaw 13 (prohibiting a booster from directing a recruit to a school). If steering occurred, Bylaw 12.3.3.1 would also have been violated by the school and agent or scouting service. Bylaw 12.3.3.1 states that a student-athlete may allow a scouting service or agent to distribute personal information to a school, provided a fee is not based on placing the player at a school.
Yahoo!Sports broke the story last Thursday, March 3. On Friday, athletic director Mullens (who was ironically brought in just last summer to clean up the program although his expertise lies in revenue growth and accounting) stated the following:
"We have been asked to provide a series of documents by the NCAA and intend to fully cooperate. I reiterate that it is our belief that the purchase of such [recruiting] services is within the allowable NCAA guidelines. . . .Our compliance office signed off on it."
Head coach Chip Kelly said, "Most programs purchase recruiting services. Our compliance office is aware of it. Will has a recruiting service that met NCAA rules, and we used him in 2010."
To paraphrase the old MST3K cable show, Flenory and Lyles (if called upon to testify) will probably claim Ph.D's in not steering recruits in certain directions as they allegedly have no vested interest in their collegiate destinations. Do you buy it? Will the NCAA buy it? At least we know the Ducks fan base has bought it. After all, winning makes everybody honest, and the Ducks have won a lot over the past few years.
Never mind that other powerhouse programs like Texas were aware of Lyles's "street agent" reputation and steered away from him to avoid even the impression of impropriety.
Cut to Columbus, Ohio. The Ohio State head football coach Jim Tressel, he of The pristine sweater-vest reputation, apparently was made aware through an e-mail on April 2, 2010 that some of his players were selling autographed Buckeye memorabilia for cash and discounted tattoos. What's the problem?
First, NCAA bylaws since 2004 have prohibited players from selling any team-related materials for cash, merchandise, or services while still in school. Second, NCAA bylaws prohibit individuals or institutions from obstructing NCAA investigations.
Unfortunately for the players involved, the U.S. Attorney's office in Columbus was investigating the tattoo parlor owner, Eddie Rife, for federal drug-trafficking charges at the time the stuff-for-tats and cash transactions went down.
Unfortunately for Coach Tressel, he received two e-mails in April of 2010 from a concerned Ohio State alum and former Buckeye baller, attorney Christopher Cicero, alerting him to the problem. Unfortunately for Coach Tressel, he acknowledged receipt of the first Cicero e-mail in his own brief e-mail reply on the same date of April 2, 2010, thus creating a paper trail of his knowledge. Unfortunately for Coach Tressel, he signed an NCAA Certificate of Compliance form on September 13, 2010, wherein he claimed to have no knowledge of any possible NCAA violations. Unfortunately for Coach Tressel, he again claimed no prior knowledge when OSU officials told him about the tattoo parlor transactions on December 9, 2010. Unfortunately for Coach Tressel, he gave this tepid disingenuous reply on December 16, 2010, when asked about his knowledge of the sales:
"While I received a tip about general rumors pertaining to certain of my players, that information had not been specific, and it pertained to their off-field choices."
Apparently, Coach Tressel was told in April the name of the tattoo parlor owner and names of two of the six players involved, who just happened to be star quarterback Terrelle Pryor and star wide receiver DeVier Posey. Since when did questionable off-field conduct of players become off-limits to football coaches and programs? Since when did it become right to shield players from law-enforcement officials and NCAA investigators?
Ohio State had been a preseason Top 10 pick in football and a viable candidate for the national championship in 2010. How would losing four stars from its offense impact the record? Coach Tressel wasn't about to find out.
More troubling than the spring 2010 lack of disclosure was the December 2010 lack of disclosure. Not only did Tressel's silence prevent the NCAA from adopting immediate penalties and suspensions against the school and players, but it encouraged athletic director Gene Smith, school president E. Gordon Gee, and Big 10 commissioner Jim Delaney to become vocal advocates and lobbyists for The Ohio State to play the Sugar Bowl in January 2011 with a full roster.
The NCAA permitted the penalties against the six players to be delayed until the 2011 season. Ohio State wound up barely beating Arkansas 31-26 in the Sugar Bowl. Five players were suspended for five games and one for one game. All of the players had to pay back the more than $7,000.00 in cash that they received for autographed jerseys and gloves, trophies, rings, and footballs. Fortunately for them, they were not required to return their tattoos.
What about the Sugar Bowl game? The Ohio State wound up barely beating Arkansas 31-26. Apparently, they needed every one of their players to overcome the Razorbacks.
Shortly after the Sugar Bowl game in early January of 2011, Ohio State officials presented Coach Tressel with the e-mails they had discovered during their own investigation of Tattoogate. At that point, after the entire season was safely behind him, Coach Tressel confessed his prior knowledge.
Previously, I've discussed The potential conflict of interest between The Ohio State University and The NCAA Infractions Committee. No need to go there again.
On March 7, 2011, Yahoo! Sports (again) disclosed Coach Tressel's prior knowledge of Tattoogate. On March 8, 2011, Ohio State hastily organized a press conference to "properly" handle the situation. Have you ever heard of gasoline on fire? The Three Stooges (Gee, Smith, and Tressel) performed like idiots or arrogant, patronizing, above-the-law shirkers. You decide.
First, they acknowledged that Coach Tressel would be suspended for the first two games of 2011 against a pair of MAC cupcakes. Second, they acknowledged that Coach Tressel would be fined $250,000.00, a large penalty until you consider he makes $3.5 million per annum. Third, they acknowledged that Coach Tressel must attend an NCAA rules seminar and must issue a public apology. The self-imposed sanctions are flyweight when compared with the NCAA sanctions against Dez Bryant at Oklahoma State and Bruce Pearl at Tennessee.
When asked if terminating Coach Tressel had ever been considered, President Gee said, "I'm just hopeful the coach doesn't dismiss me." Even if this were a joke, it does speak to the priorities at the school and in the OSU fan base: nobody's more important and powerful than the football coach and nothing's more important than winning football games.
How did Coach Tressel feel about covering up a scandal and misleading NCAA investigators? First, he made an excuse: "I didn't disclose information from Cicero because he was concerned about preserving the confidentiality of a federal drug investigation." Second, he made an arrogant self-appraisal while providing a second excuse: "I don't think less of myself at this moment. I felt at the time as if I was doing the right thing for the safety of the young people and the overall situation." Did he actually believe star Buckeye players' lives were in jeopardy? What type of Columbus, Ohio, businessman would threaten or harm Ohio State players and expect to stay in business?
Indeed, the death threats that have surfaced emanate from a few deranged Buckeye fans who have threatened good citizen Cicero, the attorney who was only trying to help the program and nip a scandal in the bud. Said Cicero later in the week, "I'm not the Judas in this situation. You know, I feel like Peter, but I'm not the Judas."
At this time, the NCAA continues its own investigation into Tattoogate, torn between its BCS alliance with The Ohio State and the national media scrutiny provided by less sympathetic individuals. Petros of the nationally-syndicated Fox Sports Radio Petros and Money Show believes Coach Tressel may be taking one for the team and covering up for a higher-up like A.D. Gene Smith. That would provide another explanation why the higher-ups didn't terminate him or issue a greater fine and suspension. Even national ESPN personality Colin Cowherd, a man usually in bed with all things BCS and Ohio State, finds Coach Tressel's conduct indefensible in Tattoogate. It is hard to believe the NCAA will not hammer Coach Tressel and The Ohio State much harder. Why? It has to.
Could Coach Tressel have been happy to receive ringing endorsements and support from a rogue's gallery of coaches, including Bob Knight, Rich Rodriguez, and Jim Calhoun? Was it their way of saying in code, "Welcome to the club"?
Let's analyze the periphery issue concerning the spy sources for Yahoo! Sports. One thing we know: it's not just idle gossip-mongering observers trying to stir things up for their own amusement, as is the case in The School for Scandal. Were the sources for the two scandals internal or external? One must assume they are external since whistleblowing immunity rarely appears in big-time athletics.
Lane Kiffin of USC had already accused Oregon of recruiting misdeeds before the Texas story broke. Last month, USC lost a five-star recruit on signing day to Oregon. What is a school like USC (already under its own NCAA sanctions) to gain from a school like Oregon getting penalized? You do the math.
Naturally, any of the other eleven schools in the Pac-12 have a lot to gain from Oregon's fall from grace. Don't rule out Big 12 schools, either, who perhaps were tired of losing local star recruits to a West Coast program. It's not fair to point fingers only at Kiffin and USC. However, based on Kiffin's Tennessee travesty, it is fun.
Who would be the most logical external sources for the Tressel controversy? Starting with arch-rival Michigan and more recent rival Penn State, any Big 10 school is a prime suspect. One wouldn't put it past Coach Rodriguez, regardless of his recent words of support, to provide a parting shot to the school and individual most responsible for his demise (if one doesn't include his own misconduct). Then again, what BCS school of any conference lacks motivation to dismantle the arrogance and effrontery and hyper-success of The Ohio State University?
The schools for scandal keep growing in numbers. If it's not one issue, it's another. Nevertheless, society grows more jaded as examples of outlandish behavior multiply. To most jaded fans, winning is everything. Therefore, they implicitly approve of any conduct that produces positive results (wins) for their teams.
It's understood that head coaches of collegiate revenue-generating sports are in pressure cookers. Administrations expect them to win. Alumni expect them to win. Boosters expect them to win. Non-revenue sports programs hope and expect them to win. Still, that is no excuse for cheating.
The coaches are compensated generously. Many of them are the highest-paid employees in their states. If they can't win playing by the rules and if they can't handle the pressure, they can always find another lower-paying vocation. Shed no tears for them. As Coach Tressel himself said this week, "The most pathetic thing is a leader looking for self-pity." In the midst of the turmoil, that was his most honorable statement.
Can schools really be expected to police themselves fairly? Can conferences really be expected to police schools fairly? Can the NCAA really be expected to police all conferences equally and fairly? Are we talking human nature or superhuman nature?
One thing you can alway expect in the world of college football is the unexpected. A new scandal will no doubt overshadow these two current scandals sometime soon. Scandals both real and imagined will continue to capture publicity in the more distant future. The fan bases will go from accepting to embracing the misconduct of their schools as egos, profits, and an intense competitive nature interfere with common decency and morality.
Fans are less concerned than ever with the image of their schools. Integrity mixed with losses does not boost the ego like Oregon recruit steering or Ohio State cover-ups mixed with wins. Are fans ever anxious about sanctions? As Sheridan wrote in the last line of his play, "You can, indeed, each anxious fear remove, For even Scandal dies, if you approve."
The potential scandal involving the Oregon football program concerns payments made to two individuals in Texas: up to $25,000.00 went to Willie Lyles of Complete Scouting Services in Houston (including $16,500.00 that went to the service itself) and $3745.00 to Baron Flenory of New Level Athletics and Badger Sports Elite 7-on-7 football camps. Most big-time BCS football programs do pay for recruiting services, and the checks came from the school itself above-board, not from an avid Ducks booster like Phil Knight of Nike. So where's the infraction?
Flenory's Badger football camps have spawned Ducks signees DeAnthony Thomas, Cliff Harris, Dior Mathis, Tacoi Sumler, and Anthony Wallace (the latter of whom he personally trained). Flenory played under Oregon head coach Chip Kelly when the latter was the offensive coordinator at New Hampshire.
Willie Lyles possibly worked as a trainer for current Ducks star LaMichael James and definitely worked as a trainer for future Ducks star Lache Seastrunk before joining the recruiting service. Curiously, the $8500.00 payment balance was made to Willie Lyles personally after the recruiting entity let him go and after Seastrunk signed his letter of intent with the Ducks.
Still, the main question is one of steering. Did Flenory and Lyles steer these prospects to Eugene, or was their arrival purely coincidental? If it was coincidental, why were the payments so unusually large? Were other schools making similar payments to Lyles or Flenory?
According to Oregon athletic director Rob Mullens, the school's compliance office signed off on the payments. Let's see, who do such office personnel work for? Would anyone there contradict Mr. Mullens in public? According to Mullens, the subject recruiting services met NCAA rules. Translation: it is Oregon's position that no steering of prospects/recruits took place.
If steering occurred, Flenory and Lyles would be considered Oregon boosters, and any payment to them would be considered a violation of Bylaw 13 (prohibiting a booster from directing a recruit to a school). If steering occurred, Bylaw 12.3.3.1 would also have been violated by the school and agent or scouting service. Bylaw 12.3.3.1 states that a student-athlete may allow a scouting service or agent to distribute personal information to a school, provided a fee is not based on placing the player at a school.
Yahoo!Sports broke the story last Thursday, March 3. On Friday, athletic director Mullens (who was ironically brought in just last summer to clean up the program although his expertise lies in revenue growth and accounting) stated the following:
"We have been asked to provide a series of documents by the NCAA and intend to fully cooperate. I reiterate that it is our belief that the purchase of such [recruiting] services is within the allowable NCAA guidelines. . . .Our compliance office signed off on it."
Head coach Chip Kelly said, "Most programs purchase recruiting services. Our compliance office is aware of it. Will has a recruiting service that met NCAA rules, and we used him in 2010."
To paraphrase the old MST3K cable show, Flenory and Lyles (if called upon to testify) will probably claim Ph.D's in not steering recruits in certain directions as they allegedly have no vested interest in their collegiate destinations. Do you buy it? Will the NCAA buy it? At least we know the Ducks fan base has bought it. After all, winning makes everybody honest, and the Ducks have won a lot over the past few years.
Never mind that other powerhouse programs like Texas were aware of Lyles's "street agent" reputation and steered away from him to avoid even the impression of impropriety.
Cut to Columbus, Ohio. The Ohio State head football coach Jim Tressel, he of The pristine sweater-vest reputation, apparently was made aware through an e-mail on April 2, 2010 that some of his players were selling autographed Buckeye memorabilia for cash and discounted tattoos. What's the problem?
First, NCAA bylaws since 2004 have prohibited players from selling any team-related materials for cash, merchandise, or services while still in school. Second, NCAA bylaws prohibit individuals or institutions from obstructing NCAA investigations.
Unfortunately for the players involved, the U.S. Attorney's office in Columbus was investigating the tattoo parlor owner, Eddie Rife, for federal drug-trafficking charges at the time the stuff-for-tats and cash transactions went down.
Unfortunately for Coach Tressel, he received two e-mails in April of 2010 from a concerned Ohio State alum and former Buckeye baller, attorney Christopher Cicero, alerting him to the problem. Unfortunately for Coach Tressel, he acknowledged receipt of the first Cicero e-mail in his own brief e-mail reply on the same date of April 2, 2010, thus creating a paper trail of his knowledge. Unfortunately for Coach Tressel, he signed an NCAA Certificate of Compliance form on September 13, 2010, wherein he claimed to have no knowledge of any possible NCAA violations. Unfortunately for Coach Tressel, he again claimed no prior knowledge when OSU officials told him about the tattoo parlor transactions on December 9, 2010. Unfortunately for Coach Tressel, he gave this tepid disingenuous reply on December 16, 2010, when asked about his knowledge of the sales:
"While I received a tip about general rumors pertaining to certain of my players, that information had not been specific, and it pertained to their off-field choices."
Apparently, Coach Tressel was told in April the name of the tattoo parlor owner and names of two of the six players involved, who just happened to be star quarterback Terrelle Pryor and star wide receiver DeVier Posey. Since when did questionable off-field conduct of players become off-limits to football coaches and programs? Since when did it become right to shield players from law-enforcement officials and NCAA investigators?
Ohio State had been a preseason Top 10 pick in football and a viable candidate for the national championship in 2010. How would losing four stars from its offense impact the record? Coach Tressel wasn't about to find out.
More troubling than the spring 2010 lack of disclosure was the December 2010 lack of disclosure. Not only did Tressel's silence prevent the NCAA from adopting immediate penalties and suspensions against the school and players, but it encouraged athletic director Gene Smith, school president E. Gordon Gee, and Big 10 commissioner Jim Delaney to become vocal advocates and lobbyists for The Ohio State to play the Sugar Bowl in January 2011 with a full roster.
The NCAA permitted the penalties against the six players to be delayed until the 2011 season. Ohio State wound up barely beating Arkansas 31-26 in the Sugar Bowl. Five players were suspended for five games and one for one game. All of the players had to pay back the more than $7,000.00 in cash that they received for autographed jerseys and gloves, trophies, rings, and footballs. Fortunately for them, they were not required to return their tattoos.
What about the Sugar Bowl game? The Ohio State wound up barely beating Arkansas 31-26. Apparently, they needed every one of their players to overcome the Razorbacks.
Shortly after the Sugar Bowl game in early January of 2011, Ohio State officials presented Coach Tressel with the e-mails they had discovered during their own investigation of Tattoogate. At that point, after the entire season was safely behind him, Coach Tressel confessed his prior knowledge.
Previously, I've discussed The potential conflict of interest between The Ohio State University and The NCAA Infractions Committee. No need to go there again.
On March 7, 2011, Yahoo! Sports (again) disclosed Coach Tressel's prior knowledge of Tattoogate. On March 8, 2011, Ohio State hastily organized a press conference to "properly" handle the situation. Have you ever heard of gasoline on fire? The Three Stooges (Gee, Smith, and Tressel) performed like idiots or arrogant, patronizing, above-the-law shirkers. You decide.
First, they acknowledged that Coach Tressel would be suspended for the first two games of 2011 against a pair of MAC cupcakes. Second, they acknowledged that Coach Tressel would be fined $250,000.00, a large penalty until you consider he makes $3.5 million per annum. Third, they acknowledged that Coach Tressel must attend an NCAA rules seminar and must issue a public apology. The self-imposed sanctions are flyweight when compared with the NCAA sanctions against Dez Bryant at Oklahoma State and Bruce Pearl at Tennessee.
When asked if terminating Coach Tressel had ever been considered, President Gee said, "I'm just hopeful the coach doesn't dismiss me." Even if this were a joke, it does speak to the priorities at the school and in the OSU fan base: nobody's more important and powerful than the football coach and nothing's more important than winning football games.
How did Coach Tressel feel about covering up a scandal and misleading NCAA investigators? First, he made an excuse: "I didn't disclose information from Cicero because he was concerned about preserving the confidentiality of a federal drug investigation." Second, he made an arrogant self-appraisal while providing a second excuse: "I don't think less of myself at this moment. I felt at the time as if I was doing the right thing for the safety of the young people and the overall situation." Did he actually believe star Buckeye players' lives were in jeopardy? What type of Columbus, Ohio, businessman would threaten or harm Ohio State players and expect to stay in business?
Indeed, the death threats that have surfaced emanate from a few deranged Buckeye fans who have threatened good citizen Cicero, the attorney who was only trying to help the program and nip a scandal in the bud. Said Cicero later in the week, "I'm not the Judas in this situation. You know, I feel like Peter, but I'm not the Judas."
At this time, the NCAA continues its own investigation into Tattoogate, torn between its BCS alliance with The Ohio State and the national media scrutiny provided by less sympathetic individuals. Petros of the nationally-syndicated Fox Sports Radio Petros and Money Show believes Coach Tressel may be taking one for the team and covering up for a higher-up like A.D. Gene Smith. That would provide another explanation why the higher-ups didn't terminate him or issue a greater fine and suspension. Even national ESPN personality Colin Cowherd, a man usually in bed with all things BCS and Ohio State, finds Coach Tressel's conduct indefensible in Tattoogate. It is hard to believe the NCAA will not hammer Coach Tressel and The Ohio State much harder. Why? It has to.
Could Coach Tressel have been happy to receive ringing endorsements and support from a rogue's gallery of coaches, including Bob Knight, Rich Rodriguez, and Jim Calhoun? Was it their way of saying in code, "Welcome to the club"?
Let's analyze the periphery issue concerning the spy sources for Yahoo! Sports. One thing we know: it's not just idle gossip-mongering observers trying to stir things up for their own amusement, as is the case in The School for Scandal. Were the sources for the two scandals internal or external? One must assume they are external since whistleblowing immunity rarely appears in big-time athletics.
Lane Kiffin of USC had already accused Oregon of recruiting misdeeds before the Texas story broke. Last month, USC lost a five-star recruit on signing day to Oregon. What is a school like USC (already under its own NCAA sanctions) to gain from a school like Oregon getting penalized? You do the math.
Naturally, any of the other eleven schools in the Pac-12 have a lot to gain from Oregon's fall from grace. Don't rule out Big 12 schools, either, who perhaps were tired of losing local star recruits to a West Coast program. It's not fair to point fingers only at Kiffin and USC. However, based on Kiffin's Tennessee travesty, it is fun.
Who would be the most logical external sources for the Tressel controversy? Starting with arch-rival Michigan and more recent rival Penn State, any Big 10 school is a prime suspect. One wouldn't put it past Coach Rodriguez, regardless of his recent words of support, to provide a parting shot to the school and individual most responsible for his demise (if one doesn't include his own misconduct). Then again, what BCS school of any conference lacks motivation to dismantle the arrogance and effrontery and hyper-success of The Ohio State University?
The schools for scandal keep growing in numbers. If it's not one issue, it's another. Nevertheless, society grows more jaded as examples of outlandish behavior multiply. To most jaded fans, winning is everything. Therefore, they implicitly approve of any conduct that produces positive results (wins) for their teams.
It's understood that head coaches of collegiate revenue-generating sports are in pressure cookers. Administrations expect them to win. Alumni expect them to win. Boosters expect them to win. Non-revenue sports programs hope and expect them to win. Still, that is no excuse for cheating.
The coaches are compensated generously. Many of them are the highest-paid employees in their states. If they can't win playing by the rules and if they can't handle the pressure, they can always find another lower-paying vocation. Shed no tears for them. As Coach Tressel himself said this week, "The most pathetic thing is a leader looking for self-pity." In the midst of the turmoil, that was his most honorable statement.
Can schools really be expected to police themselves fairly? Can conferences really be expected to police schools fairly? Can the NCAA really be expected to police all conferences equally and fairly? Are we talking human nature or superhuman nature?
One thing you can alway expect in the world of college football is the unexpected. A new scandal will no doubt overshadow these two current scandals sometime soon. Scandals both real and imagined will continue to capture publicity in the more distant future. The fan bases will go from accepting to embracing the misconduct of their schools as egos, profits, and an intense competitive nature interfere with common decency and morality.
Fans are less concerned than ever with the image of their schools. Integrity mixed with losses does not boost the ego like Oregon recruit steering or Ohio State cover-ups mixed with wins. Are fans ever anxious about sanctions? As Sheridan wrote in the last line of his play, "You can, indeed, each anxious fear remove, For even Scandal dies, if you approve."
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
BYU vs. Auburn: A Matter of Integrity
BYU and Auburn may never face each other in football or basketball, but the school from Utah already has an important victory over the school from Alabama: it believes in honor. As a matter of fact, the belief is to such an extent that the school has codified honor, adhering to the principles and moral foundation of the LDS Church, the entity which operates the school.
There was the Harvey Unga situation in BYU football last spring, where the school's all-time leading rusher was dismissed from school for a violation of the honor code. It was not a criminal act; it was, according to LDS principle and doctrine, an unethical act, premarital sex. Unga would have helped the team balance and kept some pressure off frosh quarterback phenom Jake Heaps.
Now there's the Brandon Davies situation in BYU basketball. Davies, the team's leading rebounder and third leading scorer, was suspended/dismissed from the team yesterday for the remainder of the season for a violation of the same honor code. BYU is ranked in the top five nationally with only two weeks to go before the NCAA tournament begins. A top bracket seed was possible and a #2 seed likely. Now all is in doubt, with BYU taking on a tough New Mexico team tonight and having to survive a tough Mountain West tournament next week before seedings and first-round NCAA tourney pairings are announced.
The violation occurred between the end of Saturday afternoon's game in San Diego and yesterday. When BYU officials learned of the transgression, they were quick to act. They were quick to follow the noble policy of erring on the side of integrity. This was not an NCAA violation; this was a BYU honor code violation. This was not punishment for criminal conduct. As in the Unga situation, this was punishment for what to them is unethical off-the-court/field conduct. Such unethical conduct includes academic dishonesty, premarital sex, irregular church attendance, poor personal grooming, gambling, cursing, homosexual relations, substance abuse of prescription or illegal drugs, and the use or possession of alcohol, coffee, tobacco, or pornography. You can probably strike poor personal grooming from the list of possible infractions.
In stark contrast to BYU's near-instantaneous and hard-line justice, there is the case of star quarterback Cam Newton's soft handling or mishandling at national champion Auburn. To understand Auburn's treatment of Mr. Newton, it is necessary to review and summarize Newton's off-the-field antics at the University of Florida. Why? After hearing Cam's history at Gainesville, what reasonable person would believe Cam when he said he knew nothing about his father's pay-for-play demands during Mississippi State's recruiting of him? Apparently, Auburn believed him. In truth, even the SEC and NCAA believed him. Bowl promoters believed him, too. Wait, wasn't there some type of fiscal incentive for believing in Cam Newton? It certainly helped the television network (ESPN), the BCS, the conference, and the school to keep him eligible.
What was Cam Newton like at Florida? First, he accumulated 12 driving infractions within an 18-month period, including driving with a suspended or revoked license. Rumor has it he was not #2 on the depth chart behind Tim Tebow, he was #3. Off the field, he was charged with two or three instances of academic cheating, including putting his name on another student's paper and handing in a paper bought off the internet.
He was also arrested on three felony counts by university police for being in possession of a stolen laptop computer. The Dell computer was worth about $1700, and Cam claimed he had bought the computer from another student with no knowledge it was stolen. However, one of the serial numbers had been changed and when the police left the room briefly to call the victim of the crime, Cam tossed the laptop out of his third-floor dorm room where it inaccurately landed behind the dumpster. If Mr. Newton were so innocent, why did he change a number and try to hide/destroy the evidence?
What kind of justice did Cam Newton receive at Florida? The burglary/larceny/obstruction of justice charges were dropped when Mr. Newton attended a first-time offender intervention program (lenient). However, he was suspended immediately from the football team after his arrest (hard-line). For academic cheating, Mr. Newton was set to appear in front of UF's Student Conduct Committee in the spring of 2009. Cam transferred to Blinn Community College in Texas before said hearing occurred. The result of his driving infractions is unknown.
After a solid season on the gridiron at Blinn that fall, Cam and his father Cecil were recruited by Tennessee, Oklahoma, Mississippi State, and Auburn. On November 27 and 28 of 2009, Cam and Cecil visited Mississippi State. Cecil told an MSU recruiter that it would take more than a scholarship for Cam to sign a letter of intent. It would take $180,000! Was Cam present when the demand was made? Cam says no. Cecil says no. The investigation is still pending. There are said to be tapes proving Cam's presence. They have yet to appear for investigators.
Less than one month later, Cam and Cecil visited Auburn on December 18 and 19. No details of any meetings or demands there have been revealed. Were any demands presented? Assume all was on the level when Auburn offered Mr. Newton a scholarship on December 20. Assume all was on the level when Mr. Newton signed his letter of intent with Auburn on December 31. Assume all was on the level when Auburn named Cam it starting quarterback on April 28, 2010.
In July of 2010, the SEC office notified Auburn of suspected improper recruiting conduct by Cecil Newton. What was done by the school? They started their own investigation, but kept Mr. Newton eligible. When the recruiting stories went national and public on November 4, 2010, the NCAA began its own investigation. Are we to assume the SEC and Auburn did not inform the NCAA office of their own investigations beforehand, or did the NCAA act in its own best interest by staying out of the loop until forced to launch its own query by public demand?
Regardless, it took the NCAA just 25 days to determine there had been a "violation of amateurism rules." The SEC and Auburn had been allegedly investigating since at least July. One day later, Auburn ruled Mr. Newton ineligible for the remainder of the season on November 30. No doubt, more calls were placed. Network executives, bowl committees, BCS committees, SEC officials, and even Auburn officials may have been involved. In any case, the NCAA reinstated Cam Newton a day later, on December 1, 2010, insuring higher ratings for the SEC title game and a possible goldmine-payday for a national championship game with similarly undefeated Oregon.
We know what happened. Cam Newton remained a cash cow for Auburn and the SEC. Cam Newton became, for better or worse, the face of college football in 2010. The BCS was happy, ESPN was happy, bowl organizers were happy, and sponsors were happy. Auburn won the national championship and Cam Newton won the Heisman.
Auburn, if it is proven they did err, erred on the side of profit. Will they lose the bowl game and merchandising revenue generated by a championship season if it is finally determined that Cam Newton was ineligible? No. Will they have to forfeit every game of 2010 and the title game of 2011? Yes.
Hasn't Auburn already erred by eagerly pursuing an athlete with Cam Newton's character? We know Mr. Newton obstructs justice, based on the Florida laptop case. What makes him credible? To Auburn, credibility is based on athleticism.
One cannot say BYU never makes mistakes. Going independent in football in 2012 for a few more dollars to the detriment of other Mountain West member schools and other BYU sports is a black eye to its reputation. Must it emulate the selfishness of another religious football school powerhouse, Notre Dame?
As for Brandon Davies, he will receive an honor code review to determine his status as a student and athlete for next year. He is done as an athlete for the remainder of this season.
BYU got the Brandon Davies and Harvey Unga cases 100% right. When in doubt, err on the side of integrity. Too bad more schools don't follow such a mandate.
There was the Harvey Unga situation in BYU football last spring, where the school's all-time leading rusher was dismissed from school for a violation of the honor code. It was not a criminal act; it was, according to LDS principle and doctrine, an unethical act, premarital sex. Unga would have helped the team balance and kept some pressure off frosh quarterback phenom Jake Heaps.
Now there's the Brandon Davies situation in BYU basketball. Davies, the team's leading rebounder and third leading scorer, was suspended/dismissed from the team yesterday for the remainder of the season for a violation of the same honor code. BYU is ranked in the top five nationally with only two weeks to go before the NCAA tournament begins. A top bracket seed was possible and a #2 seed likely. Now all is in doubt, with BYU taking on a tough New Mexico team tonight and having to survive a tough Mountain West tournament next week before seedings and first-round NCAA tourney pairings are announced.
The violation occurred between the end of Saturday afternoon's game in San Diego and yesterday. When BYU officials learned of the transgression, they were quick to act. They were quick to follow the noble policy of erring on the side of integrity. This was not an NCAA violation; this was a BYU honor code violation. This was not punishment for criminal conduct. As in the Unga situation, this was punishment for what to them is unethical off-the-court/field conduct. Such unethical conduct includes academic dishonesty, premarital sex, irregular church attendance, poor personal grooming, gambling, cursing, homosexual relations, substance abuse of prescription or illegal drugs, and the use or possession of alcohol, coffee, tobacco, or pornography. You can probably strike poor personal grooming from the list of possible infractions.
In stark contrast to BYU's near-instantaneous and hard-line justice, there is the case of star quarterback Cam Newton's soft handling or mishandling at national champion Auburn. To understand Auburn's treatment of Mr. Newton, it is necessary to review and summarize Newton's off-the-field antics at the University of Florida. Why? After hearing Cam's history at Gainesville, what reasonable person would believe Cam when he said he knew nothing about his father's pay-for-play demands during Mississippi State's recruiting of him? Apparently, Auburn believed him. In truth, even the SEC and NCAA believed him. Bowl promoters believed him, too. Wait, wasn't there some type of fiscal incentive for believing in Cam Newton? It certainly helped the television network (ESPN), the BCS, the conference, and the school to keep him eligible.
What was Cam Newton like at Florida? First, he accumulated 12 driving infractions within an 18-month period, including driving with a suspended or revoked license. Rumor has it he was not #2 on the depth chart behind Tim Tebow, he was #3. Off the field, he was charged with two or three instances of academic cheating, including putting his name on another student's paper and handing in a paper bought off the internet.
He was also arrested on three felony counts by university police for being in possession of a stolen laptop computer. The Dell computer was worth about $1700, and Cam claimed he had bought the computer from another student with no knowledge it was stolen. However, one of the serial numbers had been changed and when the police left the room briefly to call the victim of the crime, Cam tossed the laptop out of his third-floor dorm room where it inaccurately landed behind the dumpster. If Mr. Newton were so innocent, why did he change a number and try to hide/destroy the evidence?
What kind of justice did Cam Newton receive at Florida? The burglary/larceny/obstruction of justice charges were dropped when Mr. Newton attended a first-time offender intervention program (lenient). However, he was suspended immediately from the football team after his arrest (hard-line). For academic cheating, Mr. Newton was set to appear in front of UF's Student Conduct Committee in the spring of 2009. Cam transferred to Blinn Community College in Texas before said hearing occurred. The result of his driving infractions is unknown.
After a solid season on the gridiron at Blinn that fall, Cam and his father Cecil were recruited by Tennessee, Oklahoma, Mississippi State, and Auburn. On November 27 and 28 of 2009, Cam and Cecil visited Mississippi State. Cecil told an MSU recruiter that it would take more than a scholarship for Cam to sign a letter of intent. It would take $180,000! Was Cam present when the demand was made? Cam says no. Cecil says no. The investigation is still pending. There are said to be tapes proving Cam's presence. They have yet to appear for investigators.
Less than one month later, Cam and Cecil visited Auburn on December 18 and 19. No details of any meetings or demands there have been revealed. Were any demands presented? Assume all was on the level when Auburn offered Mr. Newton a scholarship on December 20. Assume all was on the level when Mr. Newton signed his letter of intent with Auburn on December 31. Assume all was on the level when Auburn named Cam it starting quarterback on April 28, 2010.
In July of 2010, the SEC office notified Auburn of suspected improper recruiting conduct by Cecil Newton. What was done by the school? They started their own investigation, but kept Mr. Newton eligible. When the recruiting stories went national and public on November 4, 2010, the NCAA began its own investigation. Are we to assume the SEC and Auburn did not inform the NCAA office of their own investigations beforehand, or did the NCAA act in its own best interest by staying out of the loop until forced to launch its own query by public demand?
Regardless, it took the NCAA just 25 days to determine there had been a "violation of amateurism rules." The SEC and Auburn had been allegedly investigating since at least July. One day later, Auburn ruled Mr. Newton ineligible for the remainder of the season on November 30. No doubt, more calls were placed. Network executives, bowl committees, BCS committees, SEC officials, and even Auburn officials may have been involved. In any case, the NCAA reinstated Cam Newton a day later, on December 1, 2010, insuring higher ratings for the SEC title game and a possible goldmine-payday for a national championship game with similarly undefeated Oregon.
We know what happened. Cam Newton remained a cash cow for Auburn and the SEC. Cam Newton became, for better or worse, the face of college football in 2010. The BCS was happy, ESPN was happy, bowl organizers were happy, and sponsors were happy. Auburn won the national championship and Cam Newton won the Heisman.
Auburn, if it is proven they did err, erred on the side of profit. Will they lose the bowl game and merchandising revenue generated by a championship season if it is finally determined that Cam Newton was ineligible? No. Will they have to forfeit every game of 2010 and the title game of 2011? Yes.
Hasn't Auburn already erred by eagerly pursuing an athlete with Cam Newton's character? We know Mr. Newton obstructs justice, based on the Florida laptop case. What makes him credible? To Auburn, credibility is based on athleticism.
One cannot say BYU never makes mistakes. Going independent in football in 2012 for a few more dollars to the detriment of other Mountain West member schools and other BYU sports is a black eye to its reputation. Must it emulate the selfishness of another religious football school powerhouse, Notre Dame?
As for Brandon Davies, he will receive an honor code review to determine his status as a student and athlete for next year. He is done as an athlete for the remainder of this season.
BYU got the Brandon Davies and Harvey Unga cases 100% right. When in doubt, err on the side of integrity. Too bad more schools don't follow such a mandate.
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