Hopefully This Will Help!

The University of West Virginia settled their lawsuit with Rich Rodriguez and the University of Michigan earlier today. West Virginia had filed suit against Rodriguez and the University of Michigan in an attempt to collect on Rodriguez's $4M buyout clause with the University. Rodriguez broke his contract and left the Mountaineers this past December. Under the terms of the settlement, Rodriguez will pay $1.5M in three annual payments beginning in January, 2010. The University of Michigan will pay the remaining $2.5M of the buyout.

In my opinion, this type of contract enforcement is long overdue. Coaches should be held accountable to the Universities, and more importantly to the athletes that they recruit. The vast majority of major college athletes decide on a school, not for the academic institution, but based solely on the coach. If the athlete doesn't receive the playing time that he was promised, if he doesn't get along with the coaching staff, or if he wants to be closer to home; whatever the reason, if that student athlete decides to leave school he is required to sit out a year. But the coach that the student athlete came halfway across the country to play for can leave a job on Friday and start the next job the following Monday. Why should a student athlete be punished and the coach not? Until now, a coaches contract has not been worth the ink on the paper it is written. The coaches have not had to pay any sort of price for welshing on their contract. Hopefully this will make coaches thing twice before jumping ship.

NBA Draft Freshman Laiden

What does Derrick Rose, Michael Beasley, O.J. Mayo, Kevin Love, Eric Gordon, Jerryd Bayless, Anthony Randolph, JJ Hickson, Kosta Koufos and Donte' Green have in common? Instead of heading back to class this fall for their sophomore year, they will be getting an education of a different kind. They will be beginning their careers in the National Basketball Association.

After watching the majority of the NBA Draft last night, I was amazed to see the number of players selected with only one year of college experience. The NBA has always drafted on potential, but some of these guys looked as if they were still in high school. I certainly do not blame the players for leaving school. If given the opportunity, I certainly would. No one has the benefit of a crystal ball, who knows what the next college season will bring. Will the player have a bad year, dropping next years draft status; or will the player blow out a knee or hurt an ankle, potentially ruining any chance of professional career.

The NBA's high school + 1 year, in my opinion, has done nothing but harm the college game. These players should be allowed to enter the NBA draft coming out of high school. They are old enough to vote and old enough to serve in the military, they should be old enough to make millions of dollars playing a game that they love. The NBA should emulate Major League Baseball, giving players the option of declaring for the draft after high school or after completing his third year in college.

The NBA marketed the high school + 1 year as a help to the college game. It would stop players from jumping straight from high school to the NBA. But what it did in effect, was give the NBA scouts the ability to watch these players, for an extra year, against tougher competition and in a different social setting. My guess is that most of the 10 freshman drafted last night would have declared for the NBA draft last year, given the opportunity. The NBA really needs to revisit the high school + 1 rule.

Fresno State Bulldogs win the 2008 College World Series

Congratulations to the Fresno State University Bulldogs for winning this years College World Series. Fresno State was the 49th seeded team entering the tournament. This is the first NCAA Championship, in any sport, for Fresno State. The Bulldogs had to win the WAC Championship just to make the field of 64. Outstanding accomplishment! It can definitely be said that Fresno State was one of the last teams anyone would have expected to win the 2008 College World Series.

Fresno State Takes Control

Fresno State took control of their bracket last night, beating the North Carolina Tarheels 5-3. Fresno State will now await the winner of the rematch between North Carolina and LSU. Stanford and Miami are on the slate for 7pm EST today.

Back to College

Those college basketball player that decided the test the waters of the NBA draft, and had yet to hire an agent, where forced to make a decision by 5pm yesterday. The North Carolina Tarheels received some good news at 4:43pm in an email. The email stated that Ty Lawson, Wayne Ellington and Danny Green would return to the Tarheel program next year. This will surely make the North Carolina Tarheels the prohibitive favorite to win the National Title next year.

The Tarheel program was not the only one that would receive good news on Monday. Chase Budinger will return to Arizona next year. Budinger averaged 17.1 points per game during the 2007-08 season. Coach Lute Olsen will return to the bench this year and he is no doubt excited that Budinger will be returning this coming season.

Jeremy Pargo will return to Gonzaga for his senior season. Pargo was the West Coast Conference player of the year. He averaged 12.1 points per game and 6.0 assists.

Miami and Florida State Face Off Today

At least one team from the ACC will be leaving Omaha after today's game. The top see Miami Hurricanes will face the Florida State Seminoles at 2pm EST today. Miami got the better of the Seminoles this past April, taking their series two games to one. In Miami's two wins, they scored 22 runs to Florida State's 14. In their loss, they gave up nine runs while scoring only five.

Miami was the top, overall seed coming into the tournament, having won the ACC tournament and having a current record of 53-9. Miami suffered an upset, losing to Georgia 7-4 in their first CWS tournament game, giving up 4 runs in the 9th inning.

Florida State's current record is 54-13. They were shellacked by Stanford 16-5, also loosing the game in the ninth inning. They gave up 11 runs in the top of the last inning.

Regardless of how they got here, neither of these teams are ready to go home. This promises to be a great baseball game.

In other College World Series action, Fresno State beat Rice 17-5, scoring 11 runs in the forth inning. North Carolina beat LSU 8-4. This game did not end without controversy. There was a questionable out in the eighth inning, where it appeared that the LSU base runner beat out a throw to first base. The heated exchange with the first base umpire and LSU coach Paul Mainieri did not reverse the call. North Carolina will face Fresno State and LSU will line-up against Rice. These two games will be played tomorrow, June 17th.


UPDATE:

Miami will advance, beating FSU 7-5. Miami will now play the Stanford Cardinals. Stanford lost to Georgia 4-3. Georgia will wait the winner of Miami and Stanford, who plays tomorrow (6/18) at 7pm EST. In the second bracket, North Carolina and Fresno State face off in the winners game. The other game will feature Rice and LSU. This game will be played at 2pm EST today.

Mississippi State's Former Skipper Unhappy

Ron Polk is the outgoing Head Baseball Coach for Mississippi State University and he is NOT HAPPY with his replacement. Polk is Mississippi State's winningest coach and the winningest coach in the SEC in all sports. He has just completed his 28th and final season with Mississippi State. During the past 28 years he has led the Bulldogs to a 1116-557-2 record and a record of 1350-669-2 over his entire career. With the hiring of former Kentucky baseball coach John Cohen, Polk has said that he will remove his name from the stadium, remove the banners that display his name and number and have the Mississippi State program removed from his will.

This is certainly not the way to create a smooth transition for the players that you have left behind, regardless of whether your hand-picked successor was passed over for the job.

The Bracket is Set for the 2008 College World Series

Sixty-four teams began the journey to Omaha. Only eight teams have survived to make the trip. The bracket for the 2008 College World Series has been set. The bracket is broken down into two smaller brackets. The four teams that make up bracket 1 are top ranked Miami, Florida State, Stanford and Georgia. Bracket 2 is made up of North Carolina, Rice, LSU and Fresno State. The games in Bracket 1 will begin play on Saturday and Bracket 2 will begin on Sunday. The double elimination format will continue, with the winners of Brackets 1 and 2 will play a best of three series beginning June 23rd.

Super Regionals Begin Today

The 2008 NCAA Super Regionals begin today. There are four games on the schedule, with a full slate of games beginning tomorrow. The first match up features North Carolina State vs. Georgia. This series is being played in Athens, GA. The second game has Wichita State taking on Florida State. The two night games feature Arizona at Miami and Stanford at Cal State Fullerton.

See Day 1 scouting reports here.

MLB Draft Today

Ahead of tomorrow's start of the College Super Regionals, Major League Baseball will hold its first year player's draft later today. Baseball, unlike the other major sports, still have the option of drafting straight out of high school. The MLB's draft doesn't receive the hype or fanfare of the NFL draft or the NBA draft, but it is important nonetheless.

Possible top 10 picks, courtesy of Foxsports.

College Baseball Legend Steps Aside

The Texas Tech Red Raiders baseball coaching legend, Larry Hays, stepped aside this past Monday. He will remain a fixture with the program for the next four years, continuing to develop the program and to oversee the renovation of Dan Law Field. Coach Hays ranks fourth in NCAA wins with 1509. His head coaching career spans 38 years, 22 of which were heading up the Red Raiders program. His successor is current associate head coach Dan Spencer.

Congratulations to Coach Hays on a stellar career.

Read more about Coach Hays here.

Congratulations to Mount Olive College

Mount Olive College won its first national championship in school history this past weekend, winning the 2008 NCAA Division II baseball championship. Congratulations to Mount Olive College.

NCAA Super Regionals Begin Friday

Friday marks the start of the NCAA Super Regionals. There have been very little surprises in this years tournament, with maybe the exception of Fresno State. Fresno State was a 4 seed in an initial bracket that included Long Beach State as the 1 seed. The top four overall seeds are still in the tournament.

View game information and bracket.

College World Series Field Set; Defending Champions Absent, Miami No.1 Overall

The 64 team field for the college world series was chosen yesterday. Noticeably absent, the back to back defending champion Oregon State Beavers. This is the first time since Georgia in 1991 that a defending champion has failed to qualify for the tournament. The Beavers finished the season 28-24.

While the Beavers are noticeably absent, the Miami Hurricanes are ever present. Fresh off their ACC tournament win and after spending six of the last seven weeks ranked No.1, the Hurricanes have garnered the overall No.1 seed and will play Bethune-Cookman in their first match. The Hurricanes have not been the No.1 overall seed since winning the tournament in 1999. They are the only team to have been ranked top seed overall and went on to win the tournament.

Miami is not the only team from the ACC to make the field. The University of North Carolina (No. 2 overall seed) and Florida State University are also number one seeds. In total, the ACC has 6 teams in the 64 field tournament as does the Big 12. The SEC is the lead conference with 9 teams, including Arkansas which failed to make the 8 team SEC tournament.

The regionals will begin May 30th.

Kansas wins 3rd National Championship

Congratulations to the Kansas Jayhawks, winner of the NCAA Men's Basketball Championship over the Memphis Tigers. The question now becomes will Kansas pony up the money that it is going to take to keep Bill Self from returning to his alma mater, Oklahoma State University. Rumors suggest that Oklahoma State is willing to offer a signing bonus of up to $6 million. Bill Self could not be in a better negotiating position, having just won his first national championship and Kansas' first championship in 20 years.

I do not begrudge any one returning to their alma mater to coach, in fact I applaud it. I just hope that Bill Self will not hold Kansas hostage and that college basketball does not see a repeat of the Michigan, LSU, West Virginia mess that college football gave us this past winter.

Crean to Indiana

Tom Crean has been named the new head basketball coach at Indiana University. This is the third coaching change since the firing of Bobby Knight in 2000. Crean was hired as the head basketball coach at Marquette on March 30, 1999. Marquette was Crean's first head coaching job and since arriving in Milwaukee, he has compiled a record of 188-94.

The Selection Committee Got It Right!

The NCAA Selection Committee apparently got it right when they only selected four teams from the ACC. Clemson, a five seed, lost to Villanova in the first round. Duke and Miami both lost in the second round. The only team from the ACC to make it into the "Sweet 16" is North Carolina. Carolina will face Washington State, a four seed, in Charlotte on Thursday.

Duke being beat by West Virginia was certainly a surprise. The Bluedevils had a 5 point lead at the halftime break. Apparently their legs failed them down the stretch because they could not manage to hit their jump shots. Everyone knows how imperative for Duke's shots to fall, especially from behind the three point line. Duke's inability to knock down shots from the outside and lack of size inside and on the boards, made for an uphill battle ultimately leading to an early exit to the tournament.

Another North Carolina surprise was Davidson. The Wildcats defeated Gonzaga and came from a 17 point second half deficit to defeat the Georgetown Hoyas. Stephen Curry, a sophomore, has now scored 100 points in his last three NCAA tournament games. Davidson will face Wisconsin on Friday.

Little Respect for the ACC

The ACC did not get the respect that it deserved when it came to selection Sunday. The ACC was the highest rated conference according to the RPI. Collectively, the ACC won 77% of their their games against non-conference opponents. The Big East Conference was awarded 8 bids, the most by any conference. Their conference ranked 5th in the RPI and won 73% of their games against non-conference opponents. The Pac-10 which has been widely regarded by all the experts as the best conference in basketball, has an RPI ranking of two. They collectively won 80% of their games, but with a strength of schedule rank at 21. The ACC's strength of schedule ranking was 7th and the Big East's strength of schedule ranking was 6th.

Based in this information, I believe that the ACC should have been given more respect. I believe that Virginia Tech has a very good case as to why they should have been awarded an at large bid. Hopefully, Virginia Tech will use this "snub" as motivation and win the NIT Tournament where they are a No. 1 seed.

The ACC Tournament Begins Today

Click to see the 55th ACC Tournament Bracket.

UPDATE:

Florida State, Miami, Boston College and Georgia Tech all advanced to the second round. That sets up games with Florida State vs. North Carolina, Miami vs. Virginia Tech, Duke vs. Georgia Tech and the night cap is Clemson vs. Boston College.

Florida State dropped its game to North Carolina 82-70. North Carolina will now face the winner of Miami and Virginia Tech. Miami dropped their game to Virginia Tech 63-49. Duke faced Georgia Tech, winning 82-70 and Clemson defeated Boston College in the last quarterfinal match-up.

That set up Saturday games between North Carolina vs. Virginia Tech and Duke vs. Clemson. The first semi-final game saw North Carolina defeat Virginia Tech on a Tyler Hansbrough jump shot with .8 seconds left on the game clock. In the other semi-final, Clemson defeated Duke 78-74 in, somewhat of a surprising fashion, by hitting their free throws down the stretch. I heard Coach K say (paraphrasing) "there are games that you loose and there are games that you just don't win, and this is one that we just did not win."

Tournament Recap:

The Tournament final was North Carolina vs. Clemson. This was the third time that the two teams have faced off this year. The first two games ended with North Carolina wins, but not before going to double overtime and a single overtime the second time they played in Chapel Hill. North Carolina was able to pull this one out as well, but by a closer margin than it should have been. North Carolina could not hit their free throws throughout the entire game. A team that normally does not miss, at least not very often, was only 58% from the charity stripe. North Carolina defeated Clemson 86-81.

Congratulations to Tennessee

The Tennessee Volunteers came from 16 points down to beat the defending National Champion Florida Gators. The win gives the Volunteers the SEC regular season title.