It's time to climb up once again on our high horse

F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway aside, here's another difference between the rich and say the WAC members:

Behind-the-Screens Help
Joanne C. Gerstner
New York Times
March 31, 2010

Jordan Ott’s role in Michigan State’s Final Four preparations involves staring at a computer screen nearly nonstop for three days in a windowless room, his sleeping bag stashed nearby. His goal of logging every screen, jump shot, inbounds play and trap-laden defense of the Final Four teams Butler, Duke and West Virginia has not yet been reached.

Ott leads a team of 11 Michigan State student managers in analyzing game film in advance of the Spartans’ game against Butler on Saturday in a national semifinal game in Indianapolis. His small army works to help Coach Tom Izzo uncover evidence of opponents’ exploitable weaknesses.

It is grunt work at its essence — watching every second of 40 games over 96 hours — but the group is passionate about helping Izzo’s team win. The university buys into that passion, having spent an estimated $500,000 on the technology over the last 15 years...

Go here for the remainder.

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Cheat successfully and all is cool but lose and you're the walking dead.

Coaches Finding No Tolerance for Losing
Pete Thamel
New York Times
March 31, 2010

INDIANAPOLIS — Three years ago, when Royce Waltman was fired as the coach at Indiana State, he gave a memorable and prophetic news conference at the Missouri Valley Conference tournament.

He opened by thanking the university administration for handling his dismissal with “the deft touch of a 20-mule team.” He continued with a statement so honest and salient that it resonated deeply as the college coaching carousel spun again this week.

“If you get fired for cheating, you can get hired right back again,” he said. “If you get fired for losing, it’s like you’ve got leprosy, so young coaches need to bear that in mind. Cheating and not graduating players will not get you in trouble, but that damn losing. ...”

Waltman, 68, might have lost too often, but he could see the future. He has not been rehired as a head coach, instead working as a part-time assistant at Roncalli High School here...

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When is there culpability for ADs?
Andy Katz
ESPN
April 1, 2010

When will athletic directors and presidents be held to similar standards as coaches?

Holy Cross athletic director Dick Regan hired then-Notre Dame assistant coach Sean Kearney after Ralph Willard abruptly left to be Rick Pitino's assistant at Louisville last summer.

On Tuesday, Regan fired Kearney and is set to pay him his final three years' salary, roughly close to $500,000 overall. That's not chump change for a program in the Patriot League like Holy Cross, especially in these cost-cutting times at institutions across the country...

Go here for the remainder.

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Does the RICO act (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization Act) also pertain to the NCAA?

On men's basketball tournament expansion, the NCAA talks a big game
John Feinstein
Waqshington Post
April 2, 2010

If there was any doubt about the NCAA's intention to expand the men's basketball tournament to 96 teams, it went away on Thursday afternoon.

That's not to say anyone gave any straight answers during the NCAA's annual Final Four news conference, which isn't really a news conference but rather a chance for the suits to come in and tell everyone that all is right with their world.

They made sure everyone knew that more "student-athletes" are graduating -- that's counting all 347 Division I programs, many of whom have no chance to compete on the basketball court, but let's not go there. They also reminded everyone that the selection committee (again) did a fabulous job putting together the tournament, even if it insists that everything it does be kept top secret.

But that was all just the warmup act for Greg Shaheen, who is an NCAA vice president but also, far more importantly, the guy steering the expansion ship from inside NCAA headquarters. Shaheen is a bright, capable guy who has done a lot of good things since the late Myles Brand brought him to the NCAA as his right-hand man six years ago.

His assignment Thursday was to explain how the 96-team field will work and then try to convince people that no decisions have been made. "This could all be a discussion about nothing," he said at one point.

Right. And coaches get fired for not graduating enough players...

Go here for the remainder.

Capable of is different from...

Capable of is, of course, different from actually winning against another team but we'll type it here: New Mexico State can beat Michigan State.

Yes, Tom Izzo's bunch will be uber-physical and also playing defense with an intensity unseen in the WAC but this is not a Spartan squad loaded with players primed for NBA fame and riches. It's also a team that is not particularly efficient offensively. Plus, the MSU-ers committed more turnovers than they created this season.

However, Marvin Menzies' crew will not be able to afford any lapses that allow even a min-scoring run. The Aggie starters will each need to be 'on' his game, play major minutes and produce their typical output. What is particularly worrisome is that the Spartans out-boarded opponents by nine a game this season.


As for Texas A + M and Utah State, it's another Aggie - Aggie matchup and we just don't know enough about the Texans. Hey, maybe Coach Marl Turgeon will be distracted by the talk of him heading to Oregon to replace Ernie Kent. What actually jumps out at us the most is that the Lone Star Aggies earned 211 more free throw attempts than the collective opponents, 68 more in conference action. On the other hand, they shot just .296% in three-point attempts in Big 12 play.

TAM-er Donald Sloan is a big sized (6-foot-3, 205 pounds) guard who can score (18.2 ppg.) and pass. He was just named as a member of the All-Big 12 First Team. His backcourt teammate, Derrick Roland is a tremendous defender and checks in at 6-foot-4, 190. Continuing the trend, Bryan Davis (all 6-foot-9, 250 of him) can score, rebound and block shots (56 on the season). Turgeon's guys just battled Kansas in the league tourney but lost 79-66.

There is always more than one key but one jumps out: can the WAC Aggies perform with the needed (usual?) offensive efficiency against those from Big 12?

Oh yes, here's another of our silly suggestions: how about New Mexico State and Utah State play off-the-grid rubber match a day or so before the Big Dance begins since both WAC entries will be in Spokane getting ready? Yes, we're excluding the January second northern Aggie loss to the southern Aggies and are thinking of the recent two games between NMSU and USU that produced a win for each. We're s-u-r-e Stew Morrill and Marvin Menzies would be game.