Ugly Uniform of the Day

The Oregon athletic department, thanks to their benefactors at Nike, leads the nation in ugly uniform combinations. They should leave well enough alone with their green and gold, but they can't seem to do that.

On Saturday at UCLA, the Ducks wore these things with black sparkles on them. The numbers show up in gold. The name "Oregon" and the player's name is in a black sparkly font on a black uniform. It's not Back In Black, but Black On Black.

Are they so ashamed of Oregon that they don't want us to see the name across the front of the jersey?

Barf.

2008 NCAA Tournament Projections, Volume 1

(click bracket graphic for closer view)

Just another post while pondering the departure of Bob Knight from Texas Tech. The great Pat Forde opines here that this is a good thing for college basketball. I agree with Pat.

Here is the first of a weekly set of projections for this year's NCAA tournament. There are not a lot of upsets. At this point, the four #1 seeds are predicted to make the Final Four: Memphis, Duke, North Carolina, and Kansas. This blog projects North Carolina to beat Memphis in the final. Memphis would cruise into the final with an undefeated record.

The biggest question marks in this bracket come from the Atlantic 10. Dayton and Massachusetts make this field in spite of losing conference records to this point, thanks to high RPI ratings. Houston and Mississippi State are the last teams left out. They can and probably will play themselves into the tournament.

These projections are always in a state of flux. Some teams will get hot, other teams will get cold. February will be fun.

Knee-Jerk Reactions

A couple of knee-jerk reactions, as Big 12 teams played consecutive nights on the ESPN family of networks....

What was Texas A&M doing Thursday night? Miami hadn't played well all year, then delivered a butt-kicking to the Aggies last night. The score was 34-17, but the game wasn't even that close. Aggie fans are knee-jerking, and calling for coach Dennis Franchione's head. After five years, A&M really should be better. And, this year's schedule is designed to get a coach fired, with road games remaining at Texas Tech, Missouri, Nebraska, and Oklahoma. In addition, the Texas Longhorns visit College Station. A&M athletic director Bill Byrne should be preparing to hire the search firm right now, because there will be a new coach in Aggieland next season.

My OU Sooners went up the turnpike Friday night and beat the snot out of Tulsa, 62-21. Tulsa actually kept the game competitive for about a quarter. The Hurricane will contend for a championship in Conference USA. They are not a bad team. However, OU is a true juggernaut. This has the potential to be a special season in Norman. The Sooners are averaging 61 points per game, and have beaten their four opponents by an average of almost 50 points per game.

I am on a trip to a company meeting in beautiful Lake Tahoe, California this weekend. I will blog when I can.

Knee-Jerk Reactions

A knee-jerk reaction while observing the early games:

The Big Ten is really horrible this year.

Wisconsin is finally pulling away from The Citadel, but was tied with them at the half.

Minnesota is getting drilled by Florida Atlantic.

Iowa is losing to previously woeful Iowa State.

This is in addition to what Michigan has already done/not done. Penn State, Purdue, and Michigan State look pretty good. The jury is still out on Ohio State. We'll know more about the Buckeyes around 6 PM Central time, after their game with Washington.

Outside the Big Ten, Syracuse is really awful. They are being hammered for the third week in a row, this time by Illinois of the Big Ten. Their football team is as bad as their uniforms. And, those guys still have to look forward to West Virginia, Rutgers, Louisville, and South Florida.

Blast From The Past

You're Doin' Fine, Oklahoma

I would be remiss if I did not comment on today's news from NCAA Global World Headquarters. The University of Oklahoma football program was placed on two years' probation, resulting in the loss of two scholarships in each of the next two school years. The worst punishment, though, was the "vacation" of the 8 wins in the 2005 season. The probation was handed out due to the underemployment/overpayment of QB Rhett Bomar and OL J.D. Quinn at Big Red Sports and Imports in Norman.

As an OU fan, I can live without the two scholarships for the next two seasons. The Sooners penalized themselves by not granting the two scholarships last season after kicking Bomar and Quinn off the team. That's just two scholarships that won't be used for another two years.

Once university athletic officials became aware of the infraction, they kicked the offending players off the team and informed the NCAA. The NCAA investigated, and laid down the hammer. Where is the lenience for cooperation with the NCAA? The two scholarship penalty, in addition to self-imposed sanctions, were plenty. The NCAA did not need to vacate the 8 wins from the 2005 season.

If there was a season in which to "vacate" the wins, 2005 was the one. The 2005 Sooners were very ordinary. They lost to TCU, were pounded by UCLA and Texas, and lost to Texas Tech due to some questionable officiating. That team didn't sniff a conference championship, much less a national championship. Still, I don't like the idea of giving up the 8 wins. OU President David Boren is right to appeal the sanctions, and to take up for his coach's record.

It could have been worse. The NCAA no longer bans schools from TV, as conferences and opponents are also penalized. However, they could have lost more scholarships and been banned from post-season. A loss of 5-10 scholarships per year over the course of two or three years would be devastating.

I'm waiting with baited breath for the NCAA's punishment of USC regarding the Reggie Bush house imbroglio. For some reason, I don't expect anything huge to come down real soon on that front.

OU will be fine.

In a future post, I'll go off on the NCAA's selective enforcement procedures.

Big XII Rumblings, Part 2

As I wrote earlier, the Big 12 finds itself in a bit of conflict over revenue sharing. The high-revenue schools, such as Texas, Oklahoma, Nebraska, and Texas A&M see no problem with the status quo, where half of football and non-conference basketball television money are distributed to the schools based on appearances. Up until now, it’s been an issue, but not a deal-breaker. A school such as Texas is bringing in about $1.5 million more per year under this setup, than they would if all revenues were shared equally. With the advent of the new, more lucrative, TV contract, this becomes more of an issue with the Kansas States of the world.

As I mentioned earlier, the new commissioner will have to broker a deal that will please everyone. In a perfect world, Texas, OU, and Nebraska shouldn’t have to give up revenue they have earned from having high-profile football programs. At the same time, it would cost one of these schools more money to switch conferences than they would give up through equal revenue sharing. Equal revenue sharing helps build the conference by treating all members equally, instead of as Texas, Oklahoma and Friends. It hasn’t hurt Ohio State and Michigan to help Northwestern. Ohio State now has an athletic budget of over $100,000,000. I have read that Northwestern is getting more from the new Big Ten TV deal than Notre Dame will from their exclusive deal with NBC. I don't know if that's true, but it’s pretty incredible for that to even be a possibility. By and large, the schools and alumni/population bases of the Big 12 are smaller than those of the Big Ten, therefore not commanding the same amount of money. Nonetheless, the schools of the Big 12 can work together toward solutions that benefit everyone.

There needs to be a major BCS conference in the middle of the country. Texas and OU need conference mates and true partners, not merely patsies to fill schedules in multiple sports. I'm not saying that the other ten schools are patsies in every sport. However, there is a big difference in revenue generated and spent. All-around athletic success tends to correlate with money for facilities, coaches, travel, etc. Here are some figures for athletic expenditures for 2006, from midmajority.com:

Texas: $83,600,248
Oklahoma: $64,322,580
Nebraska: $63,695,480
Texas A&M: $61,419,536
Texas Tech: $53,337,768
Kansas: $47,554,572
Colorado: $45,731,544
Missouri: $45,184,836
Oklahoma State: $44,061,812
Baylor: $36,228,960
Kansas State: $34,834,468
Iowa State: $32,541,236

I am as big of a free-market capitalist as there is out there. I hate socialism. But, when it comes to sports leagues, the NFL has proven that revenue sharing benefits everyone. In the NFL, what helps Green Bay eventually helps New York. New York doesn’t benefit from a weak franchise in Green Bay.

A league is no stronger than its weakest link.

To come: Options for conference members, in case of a breakup.

Big XII Rumblings, Part I

Last week, as I was on blogging sabbatical, the Big XII was rocked (well, that’s a strong word) by the resignation of commissioner Kevin Weiberg. Weiberg is leaving the Big 12 after 8 ½ years for a newly created position with the Big Ten Network.

As a fan of the University of Oklahoma, I am glad to see this happen. OU was ill-served by the conference office on three occasions in the last two years: the football officiating debacle at Texas Tech in 2005, the highway robbery in football at Oregon last season, and the elbowing incident involving Longar Longar in a basketball game at Texas Tech. In each case, the interests of OU were not defended, forcing the OU administration to defend itself. Furthermore, the commissioner allowed Tech coach Bob Knight to bully him into suspending Longar for two games as a result of an unintentional elbow, ignoring the pleas of the OU administration.

The conference, however, faces bigger problems. There is unrest in the league regarding revenue sharing. Currently, the league splits all non-television revenue equally. Conference members also split half of all television revenue equally. The other half of television revenue is placed in an “appearance pool”. This money is distributed based on football TV appearances and non-conference national TV appearances in basketball. This benefits schools like Texas, Oklahoma, and Nebraska (football), as well as Kansas (basketball). The more powerful programs earn up to $1-1/2 million more per year than the less-exposed schools under this plan.

Lesser-exposed members would like to see the Big XII follow the lead of the Big Ten and ACC, and share all revenue equally. This idea goes over like a lead balloon at places such as the University of Nebraska, who is considering the option of leaving the conference if they lose money in any revenue-restructuring deal. Currently, the conference requires 9 of the 12 schools to vote in favor of rewriting the conference constitution. As it stands now, 8 of the schools would be in favor of revenue sharing. Texas, Oklahoma, Nebraska, and Texas A&M are in favor of the status quo. Rumor is that A&M may be on the fence, and could change their position.

The Big XII is in an unenviable position. There are really only three programs that can draw a national audience, or large numbers of casual fans, for a television appearance against any random opponent. This explains why OU will play North Texas on national cable television in September, and why Texas can play Louisiana-Lafayette on national cable television. Therefore, Texas, OU, and Nebraska can bring in more money for TV appearances.

The lesser-exposed members argue that revenue sharing would make for a greater spirit of cooperation in the conference, resulting in more exposure and money for everyone involved. They point to the Big Ten and their new television deal as an example. The early NFL would be another example, as franchises such as New York and Cleveland gave up lucrative local TV deals in the 60’s so the league could share revenues from their national TV deal with CBS. The NFL mushroomed into the most valuable television property in the U.S.

OU, Texas, and Nebraska can also make the argument that they should get to keep the money they have earned, by having high-powered football programs that fans will watch on TV.

The next commissioner will have to broker a solution to this dilemma. The conference cannot afford to disintegrate. If the conference were to break up, the lesser-exposed schools would suffer the most.

At this point, I think rumors of a Big 12 breakup are premature and preposterous. But, anything can happen. In a future post, I will post possible scenarios for conference members.

Declaration of Independence

A big change was made today at my favorite college message board, OUInsider.com. The site has been part of the Scout.com network, until today, when the publishers of OU Insider reached the end of their contract with Scout, and broke away from Scout. There was much rejoicing in the Sooner Nation.

Scout.com and Rivals.com are networks of independent websites and magazines, providing premium recruiting content, and both pay and free message boards. Rivals is primarily a college site, while Scout is a network of both college and pro sites, dominated by college ones. Independent publishers partner with Scout to provide content, while Scout hosts the website and message boards. Scout also publishes fan magazines for many schools. Scout is now owned by Fox Interactive Media.

The Scout network has taken some major hits this year. Three of their most popular sites have declared their independence and have broken away from Scout, for various reasons. The leading sites for Ohio State (Bucknuts), Florida (Gator Country), and Oklahoma (OUInsider) have all broken away from Scout, and none have departed on good terms. The USC fan site, WeAreSC.com, has announced their departure. Word is that sites for Stanford and Texas are soon to follow. There have been differences of opinion on content for each of the sites, as the publishers did not experience the freedom they desired for each of their sites. Furthermore, Scout moved all their sites away from the popular EZboards platform, to their own message board software. This was met with anger from the masses. Currently, the leading site left on Scout is InsideCarolina.com, a North Carolina fan site.

This is a bitter divorce, and Gator Country, Bucknuts, The Bootleg (Stanford), OUInsider, and Inside Texas are now party to a lawsuit against Scout, due to disagreements over the terms and length of contracts, unpaid advertising monies, and major customer service issues. Scout is in danger of losing a large portion of their subscriber base. Ohio State, Florida, USC, and OU represent four of the last seven national football champions.

I applaud today's move by OUInsider. I lurk there every day, but rarely post. I have found a lot of independent sites that I find superior to a lot of what is found on the Scout and Rivals networks. This is purely a matter of opinion, because I don't subscribe to recruiting information, and only peruse message boards. Some good independent sites belong to schools such as TCU (KillerFrogs.com), Baylor (BaylorFans.com), Texas A&M (Texags.com), Nebraska (Huskerpedia.com), Arkansas (Hogville.net), and Virginia Tech (TechSideline.com).

Good luck to the new OUInsider.com!

Props

Props go out to some universities for athletic excellence:

Tonight, the Tennessee Lady Vols have the first of two chances to win the NCAA national women's softball championship. They lead Arizona, 1-0, in a best-of-three series. The Lady Vols have already won the women's national championship in basketball. It's not quite what Florida did in football and men's basketball, but it's still quite an achievement, if the Lady Vols take care of business.

There are, in essence, five sports that get the majority of media exposure in college athletics. All five of these get quality airtime on the ESPN family of networks, with football and men's basketball getting the majority of the exposure. Women's basketball, men's baseball, and women's softball have developed their own followings, as well. There are three schools that qualified for post-season play in all five sports: Ohio State (they of the $100,000,000 athletic budget), Louisville, and Texas A&M. Props to the Buckeyes, Cardinals, and Aggies.

Update: Tennessee didn't win the national championship in softball. Arizona won two games in a row over the Lady Vols, to win the national championship.

And Then There Were Four

There are a lot of basketball geniuses out there. Those are the ones who predicted Florida, UCLA, Ohio State, and Georgetown to be in the Final Four. I don't know how many there are, but they're out there.

The Gators are back in the Final Four for the second year in a row, and are favored to win the whole thing. But, the question is: does Billy Donovan remain as coach? He's rumored to be in line for the Kentucky job. He's one of the few coaches out there that can handle the job, and that are qualified. On the other side of today's game, Oregon was in their second Elite Eight in five years. They had three mediocre seasons in between, and the Ducks are in the process of changing athletic directors. Oregon is building a new arena, and rumor is that mega-donor Phil Knight of Nike would like to change coaches. The Ducks would like to bring alum Mark Few back from Gonzaga to coach their team. Current coach Ernie Kent isn't feeling the love, and is most likely looking elsewhere. This run didn't hurt his apparent search for another job. Maybe he'll wind up at Michigan.

I hated Georgetown in the 80's. I've chilled over the years, and even picked the Hoyas to make this year's Final Four. The Hoyas and North Carolina went to overtime, and the Hoyas pulled away to make their first Final Four since 1985, when Patrick Ewing was the star, and John Thompson was the coach. Now, Patrick Ewing, Jr. plays for the Hoyas, and John Thompson III is the coach. The Hoyas now face the buzzsaw that is Ohio State on Saturday in Atlanta.

I have three picks left from my original brackets: Florida, Georgetown, and Ohio State. I had Kansas as the other team in the Final Four, but they lost to UCLA. My original prediction of a Florida-Ohio State final still stands.

Until further notice, it's still the Gators' and Buckeyes' world. The rest of us just live in it.

Never Give Up

This is the ending to Saturday's Division II men's championship game. Winona State (Minnesota) had a seven-point lead over Barton College (NC) with 45 seconds left in the game. Barton came back to win at the buzzer with a steal and a lay-up.

A simply wild ending. It's never over until the buzzer sounds.

By the way, Winona State's uniforms were ugly. They had this trim reminiscent of the 70's Cavaliers, and the horizontal stripes down the side. I'd hate to see the away version of this uniform.

Two Down, Two To Go

Half of the Final Four field is set.

The Buckeyes of The Ohio State University actually had a game where they didn't have to depend on a freak ending. TOSU went two-for-two against the state of Tennessee in this tournament, sending Memphis home by a score of 92-76.

Out West, UCLA qualified for their second consecutive Final Four, defeating the Kansas Jayhawks, 68-55. John Wooden is proud.

On an unrelated note, I was watching a brief part of a women's game earlier today, and wondered: Why are Bowling Green's colors orange and brown? Shouldn't they have green as a color? They're not Bowling Orange.

The Red Foxes

The NCAA women's tournament has thus far provided a bit more intrigue than the men's tournament. There have actually been upsets in the women's tournament.

There is a team in the women's tournament with the nickname Red Foxes. They're not communist models, nor are they a late, great comedian. It's Marist, the #13 seed in the Dayton regional. They defeated #4 seed Ohio State, and #5 seed Middle Tennessee State.

Their run should end on Sunday, as they play the Lady Vols of Tennessee. Nonetheless, it's good to see a women's team called Red Foxes do well.

Unpredictable, Yet Predictable

There have been some entertaining games in this year's NCAA tournament. The outcomes, though, have been predictable.

I don't know how many times I've seen a lower-seeded team get a big, or not-so-big lead, only to be overtaken by the higher-seeded team. It happened last night with Southern Illinois and Kansas, Texas A&M and Memphis, and in a big way with Tennessee and Ohio State. It happened again tonight with Butler and Florida, Vanderbilt and Georgetown, and USC and North Carolina. These teams are making the selection committee look really good.

All four #1 seeds are still alive (Florida, North Carolina, Ohio State, Kansas). Three #2 seeds are still in this tournament (Georgetown, Memphis, UCLA). Only Oregon has less than a #2 seed, and they are a #3 in the Midwest region. How would you like to be Wisconsin, sitting at home as the only #2 seed knocked out of this thing thus far?

The Pac-10 still has two teams left: UCLA and Oregon. The SEC, Big XII, Big Ten, ACC, Big East, and Conference USA are still in the mix, as well.

All those people that picked favorites in their brackets are still safe. I picked Florida, Kansas, Georgetown, and Ohio State. I'm still safe, at the moment. We could very well have four #1 seeds at the Final Four in Atlanta next week. Billy Packer has to be loving it.

Even More Random Tournament Thoughts

The Big XII went 1-1 today. Kansas beat Kentucky, and Texas lost to USC. I'm sure USC would rather have a win in last year's Rose Bowl, but they'll take this.

Memphis may be better than we give them credit for. They play in a dreadful conference, but it's hard to win 23 in a row, no matter who you play. Next up for the Fighting Elvises: Texas A&M.

Conference breakdown of the Sweet 16:

SEC: 3 (Florida, Tennessee, Vanderbilt)
Pac-10: 3 (UCLA, USC, Oregon)
Big XII: 2 (Kansas, Texas A&M)
Big East: 2 (Georgetown, Pittsburgh)
The following have one team: ACC (North Carolina), Big Ten (Ohio State), Missouri Valley (Southern Illinois), Horizon League (Butler), Conference USA (Memphis), Mountain West (UNLV)

The state of Tennessee has three teams remaining in this tournament: Tennessee, Vanderbilt, and Memphis.

The city of Los Angeles has two teams left: UCLA and USC.

More Random Tournament Thoughts

The Runnin' Rebels are back. UNLV bounced Wisconsin from the tournament today in Chicago with a 74-68 win.

Rebels coach Lon Kruger advanced to the Sweet 16 with his third different school (Kansas State and Florida are the others, he didn't get Illinois this far). What is interesting, though, is that he is rumored to be considered for both the Michigan and Minnesota jobs. Either job would put him back in the Big Ten. It would be tough to leave Las Vegas, unless he's just dying to get back to snow country. It would also present the opportunity to become the first coach to take five different schools to the NCAA tournament. I don't even know if he knows that, or if he cares about that, but it's out there.

Winthrop was knocked out of the tournament by the Oregon Ducks, 75-61. Winthrop coach Gregg Marshall will now have a lot of $$$ thrown at him by schools in higher-profile conferences. He accepted the College of Charleston job last year, only to turn it down to remain at Winthrop.

The Salukis of Southern Illinois advanced to the round of 16, defeating the Hokies of Virginia Tech, 63-48. SIU now awaits the winner of the Kansas-Kentucky game.

The Purdue Boilermakers put up a valiant effort, but came up short against top-seeded Florida, losing 74-67. The Gators face Butler in the round of 16.

More later...

This Man Is Still Dancing

That's Bruce Pearl, coach of the Tennessee Volunteers. He is pictured at a game earlier this year, when he painted himself orange to support the Lady Vols in their game against top-ranked Duke.

The male Vols defeated Virginia today, 77-74. It is not true that Bristol, Virginia is being annexed to Tennessee as a result of today's game.

This is the second trip in three years to the Sweet 16 for Pearl. He coached Wisconsin-Milwaukee to the round of 16 in 2005.

Random Tournament Thoughts

Friday afternoon, I was watching the Nevada-Creighton game on March Madness On Demand (good stuff!) with the sound turned down. They went into the crowd, and found Alabama assistant coach Tom Asbury. I had the sound turned down, so I have no idea why they were talking about him. I don't know if he had a connection with either team (he and Creighton coach Dana Altman are former K-State head coaches), or if they were pimping him for another head coaching job. I don't think they were talking about his booger eating on the sidelines. Thanks to Youtube, he's the laughing stock of college basketball.

Winthrop is the last hope for a Cinderella-type run through this Big Dance. They were really underseeded at #11. They probably should have been an #8 or #9.

More later...

2nd Round Thoughts

There were some competitive games today in the NCAA tournament, as three games thus far have gone into overtime.

Texas A&M survived a hostile environment, and defeated Louisville, 72-69. The Ags return to Texas, and will play the winner of Nevada-Memphis next week in San Antonio.

Butler moved on to their second Sweet 16 in the last five years, knocking off Maryland, 62-59.

Vanderbilt moved on to the Sweet 16, taking two overtimes to handle Washington State, 78-74.

Georgetown made a second half comeback, and defeated Boston College, 62-55. Didn't that used to be a conference game? Count me among those that still think BC belongs in the Big East instead of the ACC.

Cinderella fell tonight in Buffalo, as VCU lost in overtime to Pittsburgh, 84-79.

Michigan State played North Carolina tough for three-fourths of the game. The Tar Heels pulled away at the end to win, 81-69.

As I type, UCLA is trying to hold off Indiana.

There has been a lot of excitement today, even if the outcomes have been predictable.