Kyle Guy, one of the best college basketball players today, is getting married but can’t receive any wedding gifts because the @NCAA won’t allow it. Such a corrupt, laughable “organization” the NCAA is. pic.twitter.com/XjcLM1OBBd
The NCAA just loves to constantly find new ways to be a complete and total clown show. A wedding registry is as American as apple pie. I pay $200 for you to have dinner and get drunk for free at a gigantic expensive party that I host and in return you buy me an espresso machine. Bingo bango. Thats the way it works guys. Now if Kyle Guy were asking for $10,000 cash or a new Mercedes on his wedding registry then by all means shut it down.
Outside of that? Just another example of a completely corrupt organization just going out of their way to fuck over college kids. I usually chirp at the people crying poor on behalf of college athletes getting free rides to the fanciest schools in the country, but stuff like this is different. This man is getting married, he needs nay he deserves a house dorm room full of brand new silverware, china, cooking utensils, napkin holders etc. etc. He’s far too young to need a wedding registry to be honest so maybe the NCAA is like hey bro rethink this, maybe get your Bachelors degree thats not worth the paper its printed on first before getting married?
Buuut in reality its probably just another example of the NCAA being about useful as the Springfield Police Department.
CNN – Nike is playing damage control after Duke basketball phenom Zion Williamson tore his sneaker in a game Wednesday evening. Nike’s (NKE) stock was down more than 1% on Thursday. Nike builds its reputation around creating premier shoes and clothes for athletes, but that image took a hit with Williamson’s sneaker snafu.
Zion Williamson’s Nike shoe just exploded on national TV!
I’m pretty sure I could hear Phil Knight pounding his fist on his desk all the way in Oregon when this happened the other night. Obviously Zion is not your typical consumer, but having your shoes explode on national TV injuring the guy NBA teams are blatantly tanking just for a chance to draft is a bad look.
Nike’s stock has fallen after the paper mâché shoe fell apart in front of the country. Makes you wonder, whatever happened to good, quality basketball sneakers? I’m not talking about that low top bullshit that Kobe nearly broke his ankle in either. No I’m talking about the GOAT basketball shoe; the Starbury.
The greatest shoe of all time, made by one of the wildest dudes in the history of the NBA in Stephon Marbury. All for the low, low price of $14.98. As a broke as college kid I appreciated the Starburys. Unfortunately I could never find my size in AJ Wright. Sigh. Even eBay hates us 5’8″ dudes. Stephon my man, hook me up with a size 10! I respect what Steph was trying to do though. A revolutionary if you ask me. If only Zion had the same pair of kicks we wouldn’t be talking about a knee injury, we’d be talking about the most dominant college basketball player in the country in a pair of shoes cheaper than a 30 rack of Natty Lite.
The NFL overtime system is broken and it’s easy to see why. I’m not talking about two ties in two weeks, though. The fact that the league has to put its overtime rules on the screen every time a game goes to overtime is all you need to know. I’ve never seen Fox or ESPN have to explain how extra innings or basketball overtime works. Even the NHL with its loser point, 4-on-4, 3-on-3, and shootout formats over the last 20 years is still pretty simple – play five minutes and if no one wins we go to a three-round shootout.
The fact that the NFL has to explain the rules every time a game goes to overtime is ridiculous. That’s arena league stuff. Fortunately, the solution is easy. The NFL will eventually adopt the college football overtime system, the Kansas Plan.
The Kansas Plan won’t be coming to the NFL next year, but it probably will be in the next decade or so. A criticism of the Kansas Plan is that it takes special teams out of the game, with no kickoffs or punts. Pretty soon, though, that’s what regular football could look like. With the NFL moving kickoffs up to the 35-yard line and moving touchbacks out to the 25-yard line, it’s clear that they want fewer kickoffs returned. Same in college football, which now treats any fair catch of a kickoff inside the 25-yard line as a touchback. It may be a while before the kickoff is eliminated entirely but it could happen in our lifetimes, and eliminating it in overtime would be an easy way to start.
The NFL said it shortened regular season overtime from 15 to 10 minutes for player safety reasons. Making the switch to the college football overtime system could easily be justified for that same reason.
And all due respect to punters, but if a game can’t be decided in 60 minutes I don’t mind taking the option to punt off the table for OT. Overtime is intended to force an outcome, one way or another. To force an outcome, game play has to be tweaked a little bit. I don’t mind telling a team they lose the right to punt after 60 minutes of play.
While I don’t believe the current NFL overtime system is unfair, the college overtime system is undoubtedly fairer. The Kansas Plan obviously gives each team an opportunity to possess the football. This eliminates the possibility of another Super Bowl (or any game, really) ending without one side getting an opportunity on offense. If I were a Falcons fan, I’d still be upset that Matt Ryan never got to touch the football in overtime in Super Bowl 51.
Unless the NFL wants to play full 15-minute quarters until the deadlock is broken, which it most certainly does not, it’s time they go back to college and adopt the Kansas Plan. College football overtime isn’t prefect, but it’s simpler, safer and fairer. You could do a lot worse than an overtime system that’s simple, fair and safe.
Yahoo Sports – When the fifth edition of The Basketball Tournament tipped off last month, more was at stake than just which team would claim the event’s winner-take-all $2 million prize.
Also hanging in the balance was the fate of a former middle-school principal’s radical attempt to revolutionize the sport of basketball.
Nick Elam, now a Ball State professor, Mensa member and Cincinnati Reds groundskeeper, has long watched with annoyance as entertaining basketball games deteriorated down the stretch into disjointed, foul-laden whistle fests. He studied the most frequently discussed remedies — stiffer penalties for intentional fouls or allowing hacked teams to pick their free-throw shooter — but none offered trailing teams a reasonable alternative to fouling…
Under Elam’s proposal, the game clock disappears at the first stoppage in the last four minutes of a college game and the last three minutes of an NBA game. Officials then establish a target score by taking the score of the team that leads and adding seven points. The game ends whenever one team reaches that number, ensuring that every contest concludes with the winning team sinking a clinching basket or foul shot.
The Elam Ending is the only reason I watched the last few minutes of Thursday night’s TBT matchup between Louisiana United and Overseas Elite. The guarantee that the game would end on a game-winning shot definitely intrigued me. Too bad that shot is not guaranteed to be a half-court heave. In fact, in last night’s Louisiana United vs. Overseas Elite contest the game-winning shot was a free throw.
Slogging through a glorified intramural tournament game (with a gym and crowd comparable to my intramural experiences) for its fantastic finish only to see it fizzle out instead was less than ideal. Still, the idea intrigues me.
Essentially, the Elam Ending prevents the final minutes of a game from becoming a parade to the free throw line. Instead of fouling to get the ball back, the trailing team can’t trade buckets and jack up threes to try to close the gap. When the team that’s leading only needs seven points to win, the trailing team is forced to try to play lock down defense. In theory, that should make the final few minutes a little less painful.
This is not like a shootout, that turns the end of a hockey game into a skills competition. Or college football overtime, which removes special teams from the game. This an attempt to make the last minutes of a basketball game look more like an actual basketball game. Nothing radical about that. It might not produce the Christian Laettner shot at the end of every game, but it would make most games more entertaining down the stretch.
Would I want to see this rule used in the NBA Finals, or the NCAA Tournament? No. But for the NBA summer league, or The Basketball Tournament? Why the hell not. It got me to watch a game from The Basketball Tournament last night, and I know I’m not the only one who watched just to witness an Elam Ending. If it gets more eyeballs on your product, it’s a win.
Complex – JAY-Z has joined as [Puma’s] president of basketball operations. “We’ve been working with Roc Nation for quite some time. They’ve been great partners to us for several years. We’ve done many different deals with many different ambassadors,” Adam Petrick, Puma’s global director of brand and marketing, told Complex. When Puma approached him about this opportunity, JAY-Z felt it “was something he wanted to be a part of,” according to Petrick. Hov will have a hand in the players selected to join Puma’s basketball division, as well as assist in the art design and overall concept and direction of the brand.
Freaking Hova, man. The guy can do whatever he wants. Whether thats cooking up some crack, dropping platinum rap albums, launching a record label, owning an NBA team, launching a sports agency, and now becoming the president of a major sports brand.
The stop with the Nets was probably the only thing he’s ever done that wasn’t a huge success as the team was awful under his watch, but he did help get the team to Brooklyn, which he promised years before on “Hello Brooklyn 2.0”
My fine hoe we got some victims to catch So in a couple years baby, I’m a bring you some Nets
Now he’s running Basketball Operations as the President of a major brand. All that without a fancy college degree either. Incredible. The guy is the living, breathing iteration of his verse on the “Diamonds” remix.
Massive props to the jigga man. Puma ain’t Nike, Adidas or Reebok, but I feel like thats about to change. In his first week on the job Jay-Z/Puma signed Deandre Ayton, who is projected to be the No. 1 overall pick in this week’s NBA Draft, and Marvin Bagley III (projected top 5) after being out of the basketball business for nearly 20 years. The last NBA athlete Puma signed was Vince Carter in 1998! Now Puma is scooping up half the 2018 lottery picks as a way to announce its comeback.
Seriously, watch out. HOV is about to make Puma the hottest label around because thats what he does.
DJ, spin that shit!
P.S. – American Gangster is such an underrated album that I think a lot of people forget about because it was a concept album that more or less was a promotion for the Denzel Washington movie of the same name. That sounds like a recipe for a mailed in effort, but Jay-Z brought the heat with Hello Brookyln 2.0, Success, Roc Boys, Say Hello, Blue Magic, Fallin, and American Gangster.
Results of the feasibility study launched in June 2017 indicate that there is growing excitement among the statewide hockey community to bring Division 1 hockey to Champaign.
Interesting news out of the Land of Lincoln yesterday, where the University of Illinois released the results of a study into the feasibility of launching a Division I men’s ice hockey program. The feasibility study results state:
[T]here is growing excitement and anticipation about the University of Illinois starting Division I intercollegiate ice hockey. With a growing passion for ice hockey at all levels in the state of Illinois, the foundation appears to be in place for the University of Illinois to develop an intercollegiate men’s hockey program that will be financially successful and competitive on a conference and national level.
The University of Illinois Division of Intercollegiate Athletics said yesterday that no final decision had been made yet on whether or not to add a varsity men’s hockey program. If it were to launch a varsity men’s hockey program, the University of Illinois would become the tenth Power Five school to sponsor the sport, and the third to add it since 2012.
Penn State, which launched its program in 2012, has shown that success on the ice can come sooner rather than later. The Nittany Lions men’s hockey team showed improvement in each of its first four years and made the NCAA tournament for the first time in year four. This year the program is in good position to get back to the tournament again in year five. Progress for Arizona State, which launched its program in 2015, has been a little slower but that could change if/when they find a hockey conference to call home. Life as an independent can be tough for everyone other than Notre Dame football.
The University of Illinois wouldn’t have to worry about life as an independent, though, as they would be able to slide into the Big Ten hockey conference when they’re ready. As Penn State has already shown in that conference, being a newcomer to the sport doesn’t mean being a cellar dweller for years and years. And the University of Illinois could very well have a good amount of talent on its team in a short amount of time.
It was pointed out in the study results that Illinois produced 85 Division I hockey players in 2017. Only Minnesota, Michigan and Massachusetts produced more. Of the eight states that produced the most Division I hockey players, Illinois is the only one without a Division I program. Illinois is also home to an Original Six NHL franchise, the Chicago Blackhawks, so the interest in hockey is there.
If college hockey operated like professional hockey, investors, city leaders and fans would all be demanding the next “expansion” franchise be placed in Champaign. College hockey in Illinois just makes too much sense. There’s no way that program wouldn’t be successful. Adding a Big Ten team in the third largest media market in the country can only mean more exposure for the sport, and there’s nothing to not like about that.
Unless you’re a New England fan. Just one more midwest powerhouse for BU, BC and Maine to compete against for talent.
ESPN – In 2005, then-NBA commissioner David Stern celebrated a victory when he successfully created an age limit — a player had to be 19 years old or one year removed from his high school class graduation to be drafted — that accomplished his goal of removing pro scouts from high school gyms. Now, though, there is turbulence, as the underbelly in the youth and college basketball systems is being exposed. The NBA has watched it unfold. Seeing both a responsibility as the world’s leading basketball league and an opportunity to move in on valuable territory, the league is preparing to get involved again with elite high school basketball players, multiple sources told ESPN. Current NBA commissioner Adam Silver and several of his top advisers have been engaged in listening tours and information-gathering missions with an array of stakeholders for months. That has included formal meetings with the National Basketball Players Association about adjusting the so-called “one-and-done” age-limit rule. But Silver’s aim is much more comprehensive than simply re-opening the door for 18-year-olds to play in the NBA, sources said.
WHAT TOOK SO LONG? I gotta be honest, when I first heard that the NBA was seriously interested in a player development system alternative to the NCAA all I could think of was one thing.
LeBron James called the #NCAA corrupt and said the #NBA should develop an alternative farm system for younger players. pic.twitter.com/QJS18VdRr4
The NBA is the only major sport without a legitimate minor league system, which is ridiculous. Did you know not every NBA team actually has a G-League team? How is that even possible? If you’re going to require that players are at least a year removed from high school and the NCAA continues to be the money grubbing scheme that it is, it only makes sense to make the G-League a legitimate alternative to college. A place where players can get actual NBA level coaching and make a little coin without getting athletic directors and coaches everywhere investigated by the FBI.
How many of these 18 year old phenoms actually want to to go to Duke for 6 months? And notice I say 6 months and not a year because these guys ain’t showing up to half their classes trust me. So why do we continue the facade?
Well it seems like Adam Silver is working to create this alternative for young elite basketball players.
“A plan is expected to include the NBA starting relationships with elite teenagers while they are in high school, providing skills to help them develop both on and off the court. It would ultimately open an alternate path to the NBA besides playing in college and a way 18-year-olds could earn a meaningful salary either from NBA teams or as part of an enhanced option in the developmental G League, sources said.”
All of this sounds exactly like what major soccer programs have had in place in Europe for years. Create something like an academy where young players can train, learn, and most importantly get paid all while developing to play for the big league team one day. Makes sense right? Especially when compared to the shady aspects of NCAA basketball and the joke that is the G-League.
Later in this article though it is mentioned how the NBA was looking into establishing just those types of academies.
“Within the past year, league officials began canvassing teams on their ideas and interest in the NBA creating academies that would house and train dozens of the country’s elite high school basketball players, sources said. This academy concept has been floated for years, notably by Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban…However, after discussions with teams and examining challenges and possible unintended consequences with establishing these operations in the U.S., the NBA has decided not to go down the academy path at this time, sources said.”
It seems like they have decided to go a different route and I can only think its because of some legality issues (since they have similar academies outside of the US) or simply theres a way to create this system for young players while also making money. As opposed to probably sinking capital into housing and training players at year round academies.
The G-League is ripe for improvement though.
“The NBA currently permits 18-year-olds in the G League, but the salaries are not competitive. Currently, G League players can earn a maximum of $26,000 per season. In recent years, prospects such as Brandon Jennings, Emmanuel Mudiay and Terrance Ferguson played overseas and earned as much as $1 million while waiting to be eligible to be drafted — which they all were in the first round.”
Jesus christ, no wonder nobody wants to play there. You can make more money playing at UNC.
Currently if you’re playing in the G-League you are either rehabbing an injury or a scrub. Theres no in between. There are no prospects working their way up, and thats unfortunate. You could probably do a lot to limit the massive busts we see by giving guys some grooming in the G-League instead of either instantly succeeding at the NBA level or flopping. Because as we all know, not all 18-year old phenoms are created equal.
“The NBA is focusing on getting involved in two important periods in which they currently have minimal contact with prospects: the high school years and the time between high school graduation and when a young player is physically and emotionally ready to join the NBA.”
I don’t know about 18 year olds being “emotionally ready” for anything besides buying cigarettes and scratch tickets because I remember how out to lunch me and all my friends were at that age. BUT, if there is one sport where young guys are physically ready to jump into the league its without a doubt basketball.
Now how will this effect the NCAA? It makes billions of dollars off these exact types of young athletes. The NCAA will say all the right things publicly, but it will be interesting to see how bitterly they fight this behind closed doors.
“In recent days, influential voices such as former President Barack Obama and LeBron James, a vice president of the players’ union, have called for the NBA to expand its G League to give teenagers another option besides the NCAA route. NCAA president Mark Emmert has said repeatedly he doesn’t believe players should come to college if only to use it as a pit stop toward being in the NBA.
That is a bold faced lie from Mark Emmert. If legitimate top level talent abandons the NCAA then theres no reason for me to watch it. Despite what the NCAA wants you to believe, nobody watches college basketball because of the values and kids chasing their dreams with their classmates. This ain’t Hickory High. We watch it to see the young studs dominate a few months before they become NBA Lottery picks.
Not saying we’re going to see a flood of NBA ready superstar teenagers like we saw with Kobe Bryant, Kevin Garnett, LeBron James etc. BUT if you’re not going to pay these guys and expect them to just eat shit for a year because David Stern put in an arbitrary rule a decade ago then you’re supremely naive. These guys are going to get paid what they’re worth one way or another. So if you’re the NBA why not strike now to get both the good will of helping young players develop and make a living, while also winning a potential land grab between the NCAA and overseas pro leagues. If the NBA doesn’t put a system in place someone will. Whether its the Australian National Basketball League or the LaVar Ball Big Baller Brand Basketball Association, someone will offer these young athletes what they’re looking for. Either way, one thing is clear; its time for change.
The idea of staging the Big Ten Tournament a week early just to play it at Madison Square Garden was a foolish idea from the start. It’s worked out pretty well for Rutgers so far, as the last place Scarlet Knights have already won two games in the tournament with the help of a little home court advantage, but that’s about it.
The Big Ten Tournament was held in either Chicago or Indianapolis every year between 1998 and 2016, before moving to Washington D.C. last year and MSG this year. Thankfully it’s slated to return to Chicago and Indianapolis for the next four years.
I understand trying to expand the conference’s footprint, but at some point the Big Ten has to accept that it is a Midwest conference. If they insist on trying out new tournament sites, Detroit and Minneapolis would be better options next time around. Ya know, cities with Big Ten teams and in driving distance of more Big Ten fans.
I understand that the early games of any college basketball tournament, especially on days with four games, can be sparsely attended. But I don’t seem to remember Syracuse, Villanova, or even Providence or Boston College ever playing in front of that many empty seats in the old Big East Tournament. Maybe that’s because the New York City area is loaded with Big East alumni and not nearly as many Big Ten alumni.
I also don’t remember a Big East tournament ever being played with this little buzz. Maybe that’s because these are the conference tournaments currently underway:
Atlantic Sun
Big South
Big Ten
MAAC
Missouri Valley
Northeast Conference
Ohio Valley Conference
Patriot League
Which doesn’t belong and why?
Only the Atlantic Sun, Big South and Patriot League started their conference tournaments earlier than the Big Ten Tournament. That’s because those conferences play tournament games at campus sites instead of at one venue. Only the Atlantic Sun, Big South, Missouri Valey and Ohio Valley Conference will crown a champion earlier than the Big Ten.
An eleven-day break might be nice for Florida Gulf Coast, UNC Asheville, or some other automatic-bid team as they prepare to enter the tournament as double-digit seed. But will it be too much time off for a serious national championship contender like Michigan State? If one of the top four seeds in the Big Ten tournament goes down today, they could have to wait two full weeks to play again. The Big Ten better have a good showing in the Big Dance or the experiment to play their conference tournament a week early at an empty Madison Square Garden will look a lot worse than it already does.
ESPN – The Louisville men’s basketball program will have to vacate its 2013 national championship and 2012 Final Four appearance after the NCAA denied its appeal of what the school described as “Draconian penalties” levied against the team last year…
The Cardinals will become the first NCAA Division I men’s basketball program to vacate a national title during the Final Four era, according to ESPN Stats & Information…
The NCAA penalties, which were announced on June 15, included the vacation of basketball records in which ineligible student-athletes competed from 2011 to 2015. The school had previously said the penalties would affect 123 victories, including 15 NCAA Tournament wins and the 2013 national title.
Until the NCAA can hire Doc Brown, Marty McFly and/or Biff Tannen to go back in time to change the outcomes of games, stripping teams of wins or even championships will continue to be the most trivial punishment they can hand down. The only person who ever gained anything from wins being vacated was Bobby Bowden. When Joe Paterno had 111 wins vacated in 2012, Bowden snuck to the top of the all-time NCAA Division I FBS win list for three years, before the NCAA unvacated the 111 Paterno wins in 2015.
Sure, the NCAA can repossess Louisville’s 2013 National Champions trophy and demand that the championship banner come down from the rafters, but that won’t erase the game from history. If the NCAA wants to get serious they should go back and vacate the March Madness Tournament Bracket victories of the people who picked Louisville. Ask them to return their winnings. That’ll make this penalty a lot more real for lot more people in a hurry.
I’m sure the vacated wins hurt the folks inside the Louisville athletic department and on the Board of Trustees, but I’m sure the “forfeiture of any money received through conference revenue sharing from the 2012-15 NCAA tournaments” hurts a hell of a lot more. I’m also certain that most Louisville fans don’t care.
As a fan, I would rather my team win a championship and worry about the consequences later rather than never get close. Especially with how inconsistently the NCAA hands down penalties. Drive fast and take chances. That’s life in the NCAA.
The 300s 