Coach K has owned Izzo for years. I don’t see any way that MSU gets by them, as much as I would like them to.
I also liked it better when players stuck around for four years and casual fans could remember the names of the stars from one March to the next, but I don’t think there’s any solution that wouldn’t be worse than the problem (other than the NBA further raising its age limit, but that obviously isn’t within the NCAA’s power to control).
This particular suggested solution would basically punish schools for decisions made by players, and create incentives for the players to lie to their coaches about what their plans are. And I’m not even sure how schools could avoid falling afoul of this rule; they’re not going to limit the number of top-level prospects they recruit, because then they run the risk of not signing any of them. And not every player who turns out to be an NBA prospect is identified as such while being recruited out of high school, anyway.
Any scheme the NCAA put into effect to seriously prevent players from leaving early (restoring freshman ineligibility, for instance) would likely backfire by motivating top players to play professionally overseas until they are old enough for the NBA, which wouldn’t be good for either the college game or the personal and professional development of those players.
I also think that singling out Kentucky as “the problem” also ignores the fact that ANY of the big programs would have LOVED to have some of the “problem players” that UK managed to recruit. The only hurdle preventing some of these one and done players from going to a school like Duke or Notre Dame would be academic hurdles. Other than that, you cannot tell me that any of the big b-ball programs wouldn’t love to have UK’s “problem”!
I’m not saying that it would get more than a couple of pages, most of one of which would be taken up by a photo, but considering that it does get mentioned in the annual College Basketball Preview issue and Pat Summitt was co-Sportsman of the Year in 2011 (okay, you can make the case that she wouldn’t have gotten it without Mike Krzyzewski getting it as well), the final should get more print coverage than it gets now (usually a one-line blurb along with a list of next year’s projected Top 5).
And never mind that all four #1 seeds made it to the Final Four this year, or that 13 of their 16 games were won by double figures…
The “problem,” if you can really call it that, isn’t that there are too many one-and-dones; it’s that they seem to gravitate to one or two schools. One of these years, a former NBA coach is going to take the job at some small Division I school (or maybe a not-so-small one like UNLV), talk 12 of the the top high school graduates that year into accepting scholarships, and then everybody watches what happens.
Personally, I think the NBA should back down and let the teams draft players right out of high school. (Actually, I think there needs to be some way for NBA teams to draft high school players and then let them play college ball while the teams keep their rights, but I have a feeling that 30 colleges would end up being, in effect, NBA minor league teams, with a particular team’s draftees all going to a particular school - for example, all of the Lakers’ draftees end up at UCLA.)
A Tribune columnist this morning made what I thought were good suggestions for improving the women’s tournament. (Disclaimer: I am theoretically in favor of women’s basketball, but never actually watch it).
First, either contract it to about 16 teams or, if they want to allow more teams the experience of participation, expand it to 72 or 80 teams and give the elite teams byes in the first few rounds.
Secondly, don’t play it at the exact same time when the men’s tournament is sucking up all the available sports-media oxygen. Earlier in March, there is nothing much going on except the tedious NBA and NHL regular seasons. Early in April, you also have the start of the MLB season, but that’s still a much easier environment to attract attention in.
Ha!
Though before the game I told my wife my Badgers didn’t have a chance. She told me I had to take her out to dinner Sunday night if they won. We tried a new Greek place. Not bad. Most of their menu was fish.
To the UVa fan complaining of having to play Michigan State two years in a row. How about Wisconsin? So far we’ve defeated Oregon and Arizona two years in a row and now face Kentucky again. Hopefully with a different result. I may have to bet my wife again for luck.
I have a sinking feeling CBS wanted to set up a Duke-Kentucky final for Monday night and that they’ll get it. Arizona and Wisconsin should have been in separate regions.
If some sort of miracle happens and it’s a Michigan State - Wisconsin final, it could turn out to be a pretty good game as in the Big Ten Tournament final when the two teams played an overtime title game for the first time in that tournament’s history.
Not a UVA fan 
Even without clicking the link, the “Spartans, what is your profession?” bit at the end of the post was a strong hint. Not that I see it happening but here’s to a rematch of the Big Ten Tournament championship game. 
:o
The reason they don’t reduce the tournament size is, they need to give every conference champion a spot in the tournament, and pretty much every conference that has men’s basketball has to have women’s basketball as well. The problem with, say, 48 is, they have found that giving the best teams byes is too much of an advantage, especially as those teams would also play their first games at home.
As for having the tournament earlier, the main problem the NCAA seems to have with this is, when do you start women’s basketball - in early September?
My idea: if you can have “ice hockey-only” conferences and “men’s lacrosse-only” conferences, then how about “women’s basketball-only” conferences that are more regionalized? Do you really need to have Washington travel to Arizona and Arizona State every year to play women’s basketball, just because their football and men’s basketball teams are in the same conference? (And it’s not just women’s basketball; what about, say, tennis, or swimming? The only real purpose of a regular season swim meet is to get a qualifying time for nationals; Washington can do that against Gonzaga just as easily as it can against Arizona.)
WOO HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!
Go Badgers!
Duke-Wisconsin is a “pick 'em”, with both teams being -110 on the money line, for anyone that is grousing that Wisconsin ruined the dream final matchup.
C’mon Badgers! Beat those Blue Devils. Beat them mercilessly!
The Blue Devils just hung a 20 point beatdown on a team that took Wiscy to OT. Whatever happens, I wouldn’t expect either team to run away with it.
Well, although no team from Illinois made the tourney, both finalists’ biggest stars are Chicago boys. So there’s that. (But Kaminsky is a Sox fan, so he doesn’t really count).
UK finishes the season 38-1.
Vegas just posted odds on any Kentucky player attending any of their classes for the rest of the school year.
Coincidentally, those odds are 38-1.
I’d take that bet. I’m pretty sure Tyler Ulis is staying, which means he’d better finish his classes if he wants to be academically eligible next fall.
If you meant the starters, then you’re probably right, although I think one of them is still undecided (read: trying to get a read on where he would be drafted, and weigh the pros and cons of one more year at UK against leaving). In fact, I wonder how many of the ones who came into Kentucky knowing they were one-and-dones have bothered to attend a class at all in the current semester/quarter (whichever Kentucky uses), or at least after midterms.
Anybody see Saturday Night Live this weekend, where they had a sketch where Coach K announces at a press conference that one of his star players won’t be in the championship game because he has to study for a midterm on Tuesday?
That’s not far from reality. At the 1989 NCAA Men’s Soccer Championships, the championship game between Santa Clara and Virginia (coached by Steve Sampson and Bruce Arena, respectively) was tied 1-1 after regulation, two overtimes, and two sudden-death overtimes. The match was supposed to go to penalty kicks, but the field had no lights, and it was too dark to continue. The tournament committee announced that the penalty kick shootout would take place the next day - only for Arena to say, “Er, we can’t; some of our players have final exams in the next two days.” I don’t know whose idea it was, but somebody suggested that they declare the final a draw and both teams be named co-champions, and the committee (and the NCAA) agreed.
This isn’t the only sport that has had a tie; most recently, the 2013 Men’s Outdoor Track & Field championship ended up as a tie between Florida and Texas A&M. Most sports where the team score is the sum of individual scores (e.g. track & field, swimming & diving, wrestling) do not have tiebreakers. The last time I looked, the NCAA cross country championships allowed for team ties as well, which is strange as the high school rules have a tiebreaker (the team with the faster sixth runner).
Take that bet, immediately.
Cats Post 3.129 Grade-Point Average in 2014 Fall Semester
Spring 2015 semester results obviously aren’t in yet. That said, we can glance back at the result for the 2012 team, which had 6 players get drafted to the NBA: UK men’s basketball team posts 3.12 GPA for spring
Very disappointed about Kentucky. I think Wisconsin will beat Duke. Wisconsin just beat the team that should have won the National Championship.
Also, I’m a bit sentimental about Bo Ryan. Four Division III national championships and then he had the guts to step up to Division I. He easily could have ten Division III titles by now. He was a shark in a minnow pond. But he wanted to test himself and see if his program and style could win in Division I.
I respect that. He’s proving that he can compete with the very best.
I’m just glad UK’s team is OUT. That’s all I’m sayin’…