Honestly I Didn't Have a Title (Tried One and It Sucked)

Many people around the state of Wisconsin are upset over the Marquette Golden Eagles deciding to cut D.J. Newbill, an incoming recruit loose after Jamil Wilson, the once top 50 recruit out of Racine, Wisconsin was available. Wilson is now a Golden Eagle and will make a very formidable squad in 2011-2012, yet people are being the ethics police here in southeast Wisconsin.

Don't get me wrong, I feel terrible for Newbill.  He seemed like he had a great desire to play for Buzz Williams and wanted to at all costs. There were reports that Newbill was fine with sitting on the bench and watch the games as the 12th man.  But Marquette claimed that paperwork was wrong and they had to cut a character guy off their team.  Sad stuff, but to be honest this is sport is a business and anyone who doesn't think that way still remembers watching Jimmy Chitwood.

The reason why I think it has caught so much heat is the other Division 1 program in Madison is cleaner than prude virgin.  Their football team might be another story, but basketball keeps a reputation of bringing in their type of players plus never doing it the wrong way.  I would consider 85% of the NCAA to have more of business-like approach than thinking about the kids first.  I do think Wisconsin is in the minority, which I give them a lot of credit.  But do not think everyone is like you.    

I heard someone compared Williams to John Calipari/Nick Saban which is ridiculous.  Those two guys have built a reputation of making  multiple controversial decisions and doing things that are downright wrong. Tell me another time that Williams has taken away a scholarship from a player?  Sure, there are the 'BuzzCuts' as my buddy Ron calls them, but seriously look at any university... you have guys who want to transfer for a variety of reasons.  Tell me one player who came out afterwards saying he didn't want to leave?  None of them. We never know what happens behind the scenes therefore our ideas could be entirely different than what actually happened.

Williams isn't a dirty coach nor should ever be considered  for one possible poor decision. People hate the NCAA because they claim they do not care about the students and why then when something like this happens, people make such a big deal?  Doesn't make sense to me.

-Charlie.

Throwing Water Bottles is a New College Sport

Once upon a time, I was a super fan for a team.  Granted, it was only a high school experience but I still had a blast in the stands cheering on my basketball team plus I knew they appreciated my support.  I did some things that I probably regret but I never threw anything on to the court like West Virginia, a couple weeks ago and Mississippi State did today.

First of all, I feel bad for anyone who cheers on the Mountaineers and Bulldogs if they are students, alumni, or just overall fans.  Because not everyone in the stands is throwing shit onto the courts, rather it's a few drunken individuals who had a few too many drinks. In addition, a fan who cares way too much like the kid I saw playing World of Warcraft for three straight hours. A message to him and the over-the-top fans, get a life.  Look, WoW and college basketball doesn't matter that much. 

The other thing that is sad about this whole thing is both of these states (West Virginia/Mississippi) are not regarded as "classy states" in the first place.  How many jokes about how dumb the people of West Virginia and Mississippi are? (Not saying that people from those states are but if you look up dumb states jokes, they are near the top of the list)  No matter if you are a Marshall fan or an Ole Miss fan, it's still an embarrassment to the whole state that something like this had to happen.

Also, I know the refs aren't the greatest.  Trust me, I have seen Marquette get screwed over by the bigger team like a Syracuse or UConn but that doesn't give any fan the right to litter the court with water bottles. Bitter rivalries sometimes start fights, but most fans just get jacked up from what happened and now want to kick their asses even more.

I hate to say this but I believe the NCAA should make a rule if this happens once that the students are banned for a game and if happens again, they are banned for the year.  For the most part, I feel the alumni and other fans do not start this sort of shit, it is usually the drunken student body. In addition, I have no problems with the fans going drunk to the game, just not to level where you feel it's okay to throw things. I hope some action from the NCAA comes from this entire melee.

-Charlie.

Rank em' in December Instead of November

Remember when I told you that rankings shouldn't matter in College Football in September?  Well I am telling you the exact same in College Basketball as this week proved a lot of things to me personally. If I do not put a team into the mix then that means that I feel its a pretty fair ranking.

If we start in the top five, Michigan State and Kentucky haven't lived up to their rankings.  Despite Michigan State getting a good win against Gonzaga, they shouldn't have lost to an unranked Florida team.  I will develop a better understanding of the team when they play North Carolina on Tuesday. Same goes for Kentucky who play the Heels on Saturday.  They nearly lost to Stanford and Miami-OH, I wouldn't call this team a top-five contender yet but I think with their uber-talented freshman class they will be a top five team. Those two I would replace with Duke and Purdue personally although West Virginia deserves some love too. 

Butler goes 1-2 this weekend same with Minnesota.  Both should exit the top 25 this week and I thought giving a Horizon League team a top 10 billing is completely ridiculous to think about it.  The Gophers have a ton of potential but who knows if they will live up to that. In addition, UConn looked average at best against Duke this weekend.    Louisville also dropped a game to UNLV on the road for the second straight year. 

This is why if the rankings were released today people would have a better understanding of the contenders and the teams that have promise although might not be there yet.  In my opinion, Duke is the best team in the nation so far, they played the hardest schedule so far and have won convincingly in all of their games. Wisconsin will be a big test for the Dukies at the Kohl Center in the Buzzcut Bowl on Wednesday.

-Charlie.

Top 25 Picks: Week 2- I am Wearing Brett-a-Palooza on My Eye Black

If you are curious what Brett-a-Palooza is well its basically three nights/two dayish of drinking in honor of my roommate Brett who turns 21 at midnight tonight. Obviously the Eye-Black was reference to Terrelle Pryor who put "Mike Vick" on his eye black like former USC Trojan Reggie Bush put 6-1-9 on his. I personally have no problem with Pryor supporting childhood idol but what I have a problem with is his statement from the NY Daily News "Not everybody is a perfect person in this world. I mean, everyone does ... kills people, murders people, steals from you, steals from me." Err... You cannot say everybody kills, thats just not smart whatsoever. Anyways on to the picks.......

1. Florida-vs. Troy- Yawn... another roll-over win for Tebow and the boys who looked like they are picking off where they left off. UF 56-6

2. Texas-at Wyoming- Interesting to see the Longhorns on the road but this isnt a game that should worry their fans. Despite the excited crowd, there is no way the Cowboys win this one. UT 35-14

3. USC-at 8. Ohio State- The other real big game this weekend and this one could get ugly. Even with the whole non-believers thing and the fact Pete Carroll has struggled against running quarterbacks. All it will take is one turnover in the first half and this thing will get ugly. Also I dont the Buckeyes can stop anything on the defense side of the ball. USC 42-28

4. Alabama-vs. Florida Int'l- The Tide looked pretty impressive last weekend against the Hokies and I feel that I may have underestimated them. No problems this week. BAMA 45-9

5. Oklahoma St.-vs. Houston- Lets not forget about a possible letdown after the big win last week cementing them into the top teams. I think this game will be close til the fourth when Dez Bryant helps the Pokes pull away. OSU 41-27

7. Penn State-vs. Syracuse- The Orange's quarterback Greg Paulus got off to a pretty good start last Saturday against the Gophers. Too bad Penn State going to show him how the big boys play. PSU 38-14

8. Ohio State-SEE 3. USC

9. BYU-at Tulane- Chuck's Corner Upset Alert!! Look out for this game to be very close and down to the very end. You have to think the Cougars are going to come in a bit stary-eyed. They pull it out with a field goal. BYU 16-13

10. California-vs. Eastern Washington- This one will get really ugly and Jahvid Best may run for a 1000 in this game alone. CAL 62-3

11. LSU-vs. Vanderbilt- I thought about putting the Tigers on Alert again but first game in the Death Valley should be enough to inspire them. LSU 24-13

13. Oklahoma-vs. Idaho State- Landry Jones takes over the team with his moustache and all. They should be able to work many things out this week. OKLA 45-7

14. Virigina Tech-vs. Marshall- In the days of Chad Pennington and Randy Moss, this might have been a ball game but with the Hokies coming off a lost plus the Herd has sucked since that time, ugly. VT 42-10

15. Georgia Tech-vs. Clemson- The Yellow Jackets had a pretty big cakewalk to star the season off but I think that CJ Spiller and the Tigers could pull off the upset tonight. Tech wins by a field goal because of the better quarterback. GT 24-21

16. TCU-at Virigina- The ACC is about as bad as the AFC West in the NFL with two teams going down to FCS teams. The Cavaliers were one of those teams and now they play the Horned Frogs, rut roh. TCU 31-0

17. Utah-at San Jose St.- Well seeing as the third best team beat these Spartans by 53, I think the Utes will beat them by 35. UTAH 42-7

18. Notre Dame-at Michigan- This is the big match up to find out whose legit in these two classic powerhouses. I honestly think the Irish are going to flex their muscles on the offense end and the Wolverines do not have enough to compete with them on the offense side either. ND 31-17

19. North Carolina-at UConn- The Tar Heels got an easy go of it with a win against FCS team but now they face a sneaky Husky team on the road. I think this one will be close and high scoring with the better team prevailing. UNC 35-31

21. Georgia-vs. South Carolina- Chuck's Corner Upset Alert Part II I don't like the fact that Joe Cox their quarterback is pretty banged up and the fact their offense couldn't do much last weekend either with a good Gamecock D. The Ol' Ball Coach gets an upset. USC 13-10

22. Nebraska-vs. Arkansas St.- They need not to overlook the Wildcats with the big game against Va. Tech looming but this team isn't good. The run game will smother them. NEB 38-10

24. Kansas-at UTEP- Another Big 12 team makes a road trip and once again, it will not mean much at all. The Miners aren't very good and the Jayhawks' offense is unstoppable. KU 49-13

25. Missouri-vs. Bowling Green- The Tigers return after their ass kicking of rival Illinois this past weekend and they shouldn't have any issues dismantling the Falcons. MIZZOU 37-17

-Charlie.

Jeremy Taylor Paving a Dangerous Road

Something happened today that I think commissioner David Stern and anyone else whose a fan of college basketball made them take a step back when they heard the news of Jeremy Taylor.

If you didnt hear, Taylor is a highly touted high school junior out of California who has decided to pass up his senior year of high school and head to Europe to play professional basketball. He also gives up the scholarship that Rick Pitno gave him to play at Louisville in 2010. All I have to say is what an idot.

There are multiple reasons on why this is a horrible idea. First off, he will be with a bunch of men who he likely will have nothing in common with so he is out of his element already. Second, why miss out on your senior year? Because you are "bored of HS Basketball?!" Cmon, senior year for most kids is the time of their life, why forced yourself into the work world when you dont have to. Third, the support by his father is disgusting, it reeks of a Prince Fielder-Cecil Fielder situation where there is a money-hungry father only looking out for himself and not for his kid. Fourth, is it really that hard to not fail a couple classes in High School? I mean maybe if pops would help his kid with the homework, we wouldnt be wasting time on this kid and Big East fans like me would be fearing playing Taylor in two years.

The other big reason is Brandon Jennings. Like Taylor, Jennings made the choice to skip college for a year and play in Italy because he couldnt get his grades up. If you have read the New York Times article about his time there, he absolutely hates it there. Jennings isnt getting paid on time, the players dont respect him, and basically he lives alone in a foreign place not knowing anyone.

I try my best not to wish poorly on anyone but I wouldnt be surprised if this blows up in Taylor face, if it does you wont see me giving him any sympathy.

-Charlie.

What the Hell?

In this addition of What the Hell which you will see from time to time on this blog but it has returned it two sports stories from the weird in the last couple of days... Greg Paulus reportedly working out for the Green Bay Packers and Isiah Thomas, the new coach of Florida International.

First we will start with the flopping machine that is Greg Paulus now trying his hand at football after four years ago deciding to go play point guard for Duke instead of playing quarterback for Notre Dame or Miami. First off on the 1-10 hilarous scale, how funny would it be to here Greg Paulus on the 7th floor crew track? I think about a 12. At that time, I would have went to Duke to play point guard because of the history of that position... Bobby Hurley, Steve Wojohowski, and Trajan Langdon just to name a few. His former coach said he would need to put on thirty pounds of muscle to be a good quarterback and now there are reports the Duke coach told him to go out for Wide Receiver which he has good size/speed. I will not be shocked if Paulus gets pick in the 6th or 7th round. Just a reminder, Antonio Gates was a basketball player too at Kent State.

Now on to the true What the Hell moment. Isiah Thomas found a coaching job and he is giving his first year of his contract to the Florida International athletics. I am still wondering if this is a smart move to let a guy who ran a franchise into the dirt in the NBA now to have him coach for a hopeless Panthers team. This seems like a bad Disney movie where Thomas brings this team out of nowhere and has success in the college coaching ranks. Also if Thomas were to rebuild this program, I have 2 to 1 odds saying he will be gone once the program starts. He wants a fresh start but still Thomas is a lunatic. People will want to play for Thomas but still he is a nut job.

-Charlie.

BCS Just Say No.

This is my public service announcement to the BCS to exclude the Brigham Young Cougars and the Utah Utes. Brett, a friend of mine hates, despises, (think of any other word) non-BCS teams in either football and basketball. He applies this opinion to both sports, "Non-BCS teams should not be involved in the Final Four/BCS what have you, but there is no reason why they should be playing when they are going against weak teams."

Basketball in my opinion, its a playoff to get to the Final Four and you arent playing easy opponents to get there. Although for football, its all based off who you play. So you are telling me that right now BYU is worth a BCS game when their toughest game has been UCLA whose a mid-level Pac-10 team. Now Utah is a different animal because they did go to Michigan to play despite the Wolverines being a mid-level Big 10 team and the Oregon State Beavers did beat USC but they still arent a top 25 team. Nonetheless, Utah at least has played two solid opponents to BYU one decent opponent.

Nevertheless, whoever wins the game between these two teams shouldnt be in one of the five BCS bowl games. Both of these teams might be top 3 in the Pac-10 but they arent one of the top ten teams in the nation by any means. Boise State who was the originator (sidenote I dont even count Utah's first time because the Pitt Panthers were just as worthless so it doesnt count) of this whole thing and they made everyone believe that a non-BCS team could beat a top-tier team any day of the week. In my opinion, you play this game 10 times, Oklahoma wins 9, it was just that Rick Moranis "One Time". It was a phenomenal effort and an amazing win but it didnt give me a huge reason to believe every year needed one of these teams. Just take a look at Hawaii, they are the bad example of this and if one of these teams gets in this year, it could be the exact same thing which if that were to happen, it will probably almost end this whole talk of getting a non-BCS team in the BCS Championship series.

Lets just hope they all lose for the sake of good football.

-Charlie.

A Case of the Mondays for Refs

I witnessed some of the worst officating in sports history last night. I have seen poorly reffed games in all sorts of sports but there are not of alot of them that not one but two end with horrific calls.

-Villanva-Georgetown: I did not catch most of this game because I was doing the school thing although I had caught that the Hoyas were a double-digit favorite against the Wildcats who were a top 20 team a month ago then the Big East just ate them up. The Hoyas looked like they had a commanding lead then Nova pulled back with some great play from Scottie Reynolds. Then on the final possession, Reynolds drove down the lane with a ton of a contact. Then the ball is stripped away and they call a harmless bumping foul! It was unbelieveable that they gave Johnathan Wallace who happens to be the best free-throw shooter in G'Town history too. Made them both to give them the game. Coach John Thompson III should not be at all satisfied with this win. As someone said on a messege board, "If that's a foul then Shawn Pruitt (of Illinois) got away with murder."

-Rutgers-Tennessee: I honestly have never sat down and watched a women's college basketball game because I just do not find the style that women play interesting at all. Although I did see the highlights of this game and the Scarlet Knights got absolutly robbed. Candance Parker had a couple shot attempts in the paint then another UT player got the ball with .02 left and somehow gets fouled. C. Vivian Stringer definetly left nothing out but to be positive I would rather have that happen against a non-conference team then against UConn.

Also a random video...

Shaq does cheers!

Charlie.