Memphis Tigers Wish They Were The Bayside Tigers

Mr. Belding would not have let this kind of test cheating scandal happen on his watch. Give credit to Derrick Rose for being a better con man then Zack Morris.

There are bad losses in sports, none may have been as bad, strictly by the numbers as what the Memphis Tigers basketball team. The season doesn’t start for months and yet they lost 38 games and a tournament appearance in one day...not good.

The NCAA announced its decision to strip Memphis of its National Championship-game appearance and Final Four appearance along with the team’s 38 wins in 2008. It was found that after an investigation earlier this year, former Memphis star point guard Derrick Rose cheated on a standardized test to gain admission into the school. It is unclear at this time what it really means as far as school records or the record of former coach John Calipari . Essentially it is more about giving back the money that was awarded for that season then anything else. It does not appear that the University will have any other sanctions against them, just the bad press. It does not appear that the school or coach did anything wrong so there should be no other fall out.

Well, nothing wrong may be an slight over statement especially as it refers to the coach. John Calipari , who is now in Kentucky has had issues with kids at both his last 2 stops. Nice to leave two programs and be the Teflon man where nothing sticks to him. Few people even remember his issue at Umass and now he has skated right to the top to one of the biggest jobs in all college basketball. Marcus Camby took money from an agent and not this news with Rose. What he did "wrong" is recruiting kids that are easily manipulated into making bad decisions. Character clearly takes a back seat to skill. Coaches and athletic departments are more likely to look the other way if a kid can put wins on the board, money in the pockets and sales of apparel.

Lets call it as it is - saying that a team is stripped of wins means very little. The kids that won those games know they won - you can’t tell them it didn’t happen. All I can say is it was a good thing that they choked away that game and lost to Kansas, stripping a team of a National Championship could have been an ugly and messy process and one that would have been met with a lot more hostility then what this case will have.

These kids are going to these schools to be athletes not for an education anyway. They know that they can’t go straight to the pros so it is just a place to kill time between games and when they can go pro and start cashing the cheques.

Sweet Carolina - NC Is Playing For Another Title

Game two is on and has North Carolina taking on Villanova. Carolina has come out firing and getting makes and have stretched the lead to as much as 17 points. Right on cue with most basketball games (I don’t know what it is but there is so often a comeback when teams fall far behind in basketball) Villanova has started to make a push and have closed the gap to under 10 at the half. Anything under double digits is good both realistically as well as optically. Double digits look bad just look at cases of cola at $7.99...looks a lot better then $8 or gas at 79.9 rather then 80.0.

The game is now over and the match is set North Carolina is victorious with a 83-69 victory. Villanova just couldn’t buy a bucket in the second half. they kept shooting 3’s and they wouldn’t fall, they would get looks close to the basket and they wouldn’t fall. North Carolina in turn just filled the basket and had three’s falling like raindrops. That is exactly what NC is going to need come Monday when they face Michigan State in the finals on Monday night.

Looks like there will be a great Finals Monday in a rematch that these teams played in December. NC won big that day, don’t expect them to walk over the Spartans again, this has the potential to be a big nail biter!

If you are watching the game Monday take notice of the court it seems to be raised and the benches are set well below the floor along with press row. It looks way different then a traditional court. I am sure that it has something to do with the fact that it is set on a football field but it is very distinctive, I like it. Perhaps more arena's should adopt this it is a sharp look.
Enjoy the finals!

Michigan State Wins..But Don't Call It An Upset

Game 1 of the final 4 is over and It was Michigan State taking over late in the second half after a closely contested match until the 14 minute mark. At that time it was 49-49. The Spartans were just too strong down the stretch and managed to pull away from the UCONN Huskies and ended the game 82-73. Not even the 7 foot 3 inch Thabeet wasn’t enough to save this one. What I found kind of funny was looking on some websites after the game that had headlines like “State of Shock” and calling it an upset. Just because it was a #2 beating a #1 doesn’t make it an upset...especially when you factor in the fact that they are playing in Ford Field in Detroit MICHIGAN. Yeah maybe they might have the edge as far as being the hometown darling. In basketball more then any other sport it seems like home court/field advantage is very important. Also, as in both Final 4 games they are all evenly matched and all the teams have a legitimate chance, rest assured that this was not an upset.

It was a great game to watch and set the bar for the North Carolina vs Villanova game pretty high to live up too, but I am sure it won’t disappoint.I am not pleased that State won but a good game is always ok in my books...I just hope whoever comes out of the second game prevails in the finals. Only time will tell.