Gottfried nails this one...

Ex-Alabama headman is dead on....
 

     Don't get me wrong. I'm glad that Alabama is in the NIT.  To equate the NIT and the NCAA as comparable in importance to a program is insane. Mark Gottfried put it this way, "One hundred percent, unequivocally, without question, going to the NCAA Tournament is paramount,"   Of course, it is paramount. Could you imagine any Alabama football fan saying "the Liberty Bowl is as good as a BCS game?  Heck, you can't even get an Alabama fan to admit that going to the Capital One Bowl is a good thing.

     If you are a basketball coach or fan going to the NCAA is what it is all about. I can enjoy the NIT. I'll go and cheer as loud as if we were in the NCAA, but to say we are satisfied with being in the NIT  is just wrong. We may be satisfied with being in the NIT as opposed to not playing anywhere. This year we can win some games in  the NIT to rub the noses of the NCAA Selection Committee for leaving us on the outside looking in.

NCAA is starting to put teams in the NIT out of place...

     By now I'm sure that many are starting to understand that the NIT is sprinkling its field teams that should have gone to the NCAA. That's what happens when you have a monopoly. Alabama is near and dear to my heart but don't think that Wichita State, New Mexico, Miami, and Virginia Tech aren't complaining either. It is still difficult to know exactly when you will play, but at least we have a better idea of where we will play. By putting the Alabama game on Monday night the NIT is making a marquee game between the Tide and the Lobos. To me, it is like an open admission by the NCAA of saying "here are two NCAA teams" playing in the NIT.  Mark Gottfried is correct on this one. Only delusional thinkers could begin to imagine that the going to the NIT is as important as going to the NCAA. If it makes you feel better to think so then go right ahead. Ask the Alabama players if they are the same. And by the way Mark seems to have found a niche in broadcasting. Good for him.
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Say goodnight Bruce

Another Tennessee embarrassment needs to leave...

     I'm not sure why the University of Tennessee has become the cesspool of all that is wrong with college sports. Unlike some schools who find boosters hard to control, or agents who are out of control Tennessee skips the middle man and let's their coaches do the dirty work. I'm not saying all Tennessee coaches are corrupt. Just the ones who count. At the top of list are Lane Kiffin and Bruce Pearl.

When the NCAA extended the Vols basketball team it upset me. That invitation was like rewarding a school for cheating. Who knows who many of Tennessee basketball players are ineligible. We know the coach decided to break important rules regarding recruiting and then lied to the NCAA when investigated. As the old saying goes the cover up is worse than the crime. The cover up in Pearl's case was to stonewall behind lies. After a few key recruits spilled the beans Pearl was forced to admit the truth. Dragged into the court of public opinion Tennessee suspended Pearl for six SEC games. Big whoop. I bet almost any dirty coach in the NCAA would sit six games for a Scotty Hopson type player.

The SEC should have mandated that the Vols turn down the NCAA bid, further fall on their own sword, and add on another self imposed penalty. Not the haughty Volunteers though. The NCAA has once again embarassed themselves. It is clear to this writer that the NCAA has no real desire to clean up, much yet police their member institutions. There is just too much money involved and too many people who receive a bonus for extra income to be responsible.

SEC to date in the NCAA and NIT...

    I think Tennessee got beat by 30 or some other laughable number. Kentucky managed to hang on and beat  Princeton by 2 which is just as laughable. It took a couple of homer calls to give them a chance to win. Vandy got beat in round one by Richmond. Richmond is underrated and Vandy began to look like a very average team by the end of the season. Florida took care of business in a big league manner. Georgia plays Washington later tonight. I like the Purple in that one.

     Alabama spanked Coastal Carolina who was without two key players. Ole Miss lost a heart breaker in Berkeley to Cal. If you think hometown cooking is just in the South this game proved it isn't so. Bama plays New Mexico on Monday in Tuscaloosa and this will be a great game. The high scoring Lobos enter into the black hole of defense otherwise known as Coleman Coliseum.


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UAB shows the stupidity of the NCAA

Blazers were overmatched...

I was not one of those fans who thought that UAB didn't deserve their NCAA bid. They won the Conference USA regular season championship and there are some pretty good teams that play in the league. I was one of those that thought the Blazers would be eviserated in the first game. They were. It was a pounding that left no doubt that not all bubble teams are created equal.

The only question I have to quote my friend W. Jefferson Sherrer is whether they were a train wreck or a dumpster fire. Regardless of which you choose what happened to UAB was pretty awful. Clemson, a basement scrapper in the ACC clobbered the Blazers 70-52. It wasn't that close. If UAB got into the tournament due to the "eye test" then someone is blind. Still, it was nice to see another school for our state play in the Tournament. Alabama State plays tonight against Texas San Antonio and prepare for another rout. As the punster said, UAB was right in the thick of things until the opening tipoff.

Not beating a dead mule here... 

      Clearly, something or someone needs to step forward and say, this isn't working. If UAB gets a bid to the NCAA over someone like New Mexico or Witchita State the bus is broken. So how do we fix the problem?  Seriously, your personal idea might be better than anyone in the big NCAA dumb machine has considered. I'd like to see what you propose be done. It is my personal belief that every member institution be allowed to play in a huge end of the year hoopla. We could call it the Really Big Dance or someone idiotic name dreamed up by some focus group in LA. If you have been watching the Witchata State vs. Nebraska NIT game you have to wonder where the hell has WS been. It appears that Nebraska isn't any better than UAB.  Its been a long time from that historic night in Birmingham when those two teams first met. 

Bama faces New Mexico in round two...

     For a lot of those fanatical basketball followers New Mexico and "The Pit" bring back some fond memories. The Pit is one of those areanas where home fans are given the go ahead to act abusive, arrogant, and loud. They are kind of like one of those Westerns when the townfolk realized almost all the bad guys are shot up and then the vigilante committee meets to discuss rope strenght. Alabama will have its hands full of Lobos whatever night they meet. That appears to be next Monday night. That's NCAA logic - give the teams day to get ready for game one and then almost a week for game two. The last time we saw Alabama the Tide gave up only 44 points to Coastal Carolina. The last time we saw the Lobos they have up 52 points to BYU's Jimmy Freidette.


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Bama crushes Coastal Carolina

Question answered - 'Bama is ready to play in the NIT...


     Not only was Alabama ready to play they were ready to dominate. Bama held high scoring Coastal Carolina to 44 points. That is essentially 1 point a minute. In modern basketball that is almost impossible. Bama scored 68 but could have had much more. On a night where all Tide fans were wondering how the team would respond to the NCAA snub. Alabama showed themselves, their fans, and the nation just how foolish the NCAA Selection Committee has become.

     I have to feel a little for my old friend Cliff Ellis. The talent margin was just to great to overcome. And with no offense to Carolina fans that is why the big boys are the big boys. Ask the CC inside players what happened when they dared to actually venture into the paint. Ask the guards who tried to penetrate. The only term that comes to my mind is "in your face". I like the Cinderella story in the Big Dance as much as anyone. I'd vote to continue to let those teams play. But the NCAA needs to understand that you cannot keep better teams from playing without some rational basis. If Alabama is indeed only the 38th best at large team what does make the Coastal Carolinas of the world? They are not second rate teams. That are among the top rated programs that lives in a different world than SEC teams.

   Programs like Coastal Carolina live in a different world...

    Granted an occasional team rises up from the pack and turns into a big time program. Gonzaga, George Mason, and Jacksonville are prime examples. Butler is up there as well. But where is Jacksonsville now? But those programs tend to succeed only when they have a great coach moving on up. This is not a slap at any of those schools. There is room for both schools. The boys who want to big should have a chance to play the big boys if they wish. You and I could probably arrange a fight with Mike Tyson for that matter. But to what end?

So how good is this Alabama team? 

 Tonight Alabama played one of the teams who would dream of being a top program. It ended about where most thought it would. Perhaps the gap was a little worse. Grant took it easy on a peer. It was embarrassing to Cliff Ellis to watch his team toyed with. It could have been so much worse. The only question left in my mind is exactly how good has the Alabama Crimson Tide become. Whether they play Texas El Paso or New Mexico they are in for a good old fashioned fight. The next game with be high octane vs. life time break pads. If Alabama can play the offense they played the first half in the next game it could be pretty bad for the visitor.


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Is there a conspiracy with the NIT and NCAA?

NCAA has cornered the Market for post-season basketball...


     Did the NCAA tank Alabama, Colorado, Boston College, and Miami for the sake of having a better NIT field. It is something to think about. Do I have proof this happened? No, of course not. Do I believe that is what happened? Absolutely.  Other than NCAA talking heads have you spoken to anyone who believes that Alabama doesn't belong in the NCAA. Georgia should have had the character to turn down the NCAA bid and say that 'Bama is a better team. That couldn't happen in today's world. Character is something relegated to the history books. To a lot of younger Americans the term character is a synonym for the word sucker.
  
     That the lack of character started at the top of the food chain and worked it's way down to member institutions is disheartening. The number 2 team in the SEC is not as good as the 11th best in the Big East. Or put it another way. The #2 team in the SEC is not better than the 7th worst team in the Big East. Same can be said for the Big Ten. When the selection committee extends half of the available bids to 2 conferences everyone should sit up and take notice.

     I have a friend who follows the Big Ten. He thinks the NCAA is paying back the SEC for winning so many football championships. LOL, I think. But it is simply ludicrous to give two leagues half of the at large bids to the Tournament. I'm sticking with enhancing the NIT field. Throw in gross stupidity. Maybe the NIT can be for all those baby conferences and mid-majors who elect to play into that field rather than the NCAA.

      How about some real rules. Throw out all this SOS and RPI. It is possible that the best team in America might have a crummy SOS and therefore a less than resplendent RPI.  I'd like to see some rules such as:

1. If you finish in the lower 1/2 of your conference you stay at home.
2. No conference can send more than six schools, and  how about letting the conference decide who goes?
3. Only retired coaches can be on the selection committee.
4. Divide the country into four parts, N,E,W, and South. All the teams in the NCAA field play where the    geography falls. None of this silly sending Duke to California or Arizona because they are a #1 seeds.

5. No school that has a coach suspended or has been on probation for a major violation can participate for    three years. Period.
6. Teams that have low graduation rates can't play. I have no idea what the standard should be, other than there should have one.
7. Teams with seniors should be given preference over one and done schools. It is high time for the NCAA to get back to basics. Collegiate means going to school to me.
8. Each major conference should have a representative in the selection committee but no school may have more than one.
9. But the most sensible solution is just too have one big tournament at the end of the season. All schools get to play. Seed them somehow. There will then be arguments about seeds, but if the best team actually wins they should be able to beat everyone in theory...

Bama by 11 tonight

Tide plays a good Coastal Carolina team in NIT opener in T Town

Disappointed Bama turns to NIT...

     When Charles Barkley and Dick Vitale agree on anything it is worth noticing. When they both agree that Alabama  got shafted, they got shafted.  For Barkley it was head to head competition. Bama beat Georgia twice. So you do you take Georgia. You make them a 10 seed which meant they were never on the bubble. It would be appropriate to gag at this point.

     Colorado  beat Kansas State 3 times.  Kansas State goes NCAA and the Buffs go NIT.  USC goes and they beat no one. None of this makes sense. It does make NCAA sense. NCAA sense if first you lose your common sense, and move into the Committee Zone.  Here is another problem. The NCAA owns the NIT. That means that some teams that should be in the NCAA might end up in the NIT to make a more marketable tournament for television. Can you say USC?  Everyone in the nation knows that Alabama should be in the NCAA over Georgia. There have been bad years for the selection committee. This year will set a new standard for NCAA stupidity which is a continuation of the Cam Newton type logic. THE SEC SHOULD FIRE MIKE SLIVE WHO HAS ABOUT AS MUCH PULL AS A DEAD MULE. 

     The real question in my mind is whether Alabama can get "up" for the NIT?  To date Anthony Grant has some a real ability to get his team ready. Alabama will be as ready as Hines, Green, and Hillman are ready. If the seniors and teaam star show some sis boom bah for the Tournament Bama might win the NCAA. At least we could all get to go to New York. Bama is undefeated at home and I see no reason to think that should come to an end.
Coastal Carolina is a good team. They can beat Alabama. I don't think they will. Their is something special about this Crimson Tide edition that seems to defy the imagination. Bama may so mad they might win the NIT to make the NCAA look bad. No wait, the NCAA already looks bad. How about they make the NCAA look unnecessary. All of this could resolved by having a new entity for major powers. Or just let everyone in the tournament. Basketball is a tournament sport. Since we are now letting in 11 teams from one league we have gone past the need for leagues. I think that their are 37 at large bids. That means that between the Big Ten and Big East a total of 18 teams got bids. The Big East number 11 gets a bid instead of the number 2 SEC team. That crazy talk. That's crooked thinking. That's what happens when you get a bunch of egg heads in a room who drift into the NCAA logic zone.

     I am not going into any details about Coastal Carolina. You can get that on Al.com. This has been a  wonderful season. I watched the most exciting 7 minutes of basketball in the history of my own eyes when Bama beat Georgia last Friday. That made the season for me. But other things stand out. The Tide beat the SEC West to death. They also beat SEC East. The Tide beat Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia twice, South Carolina. They got Higginsed out of a win at Vandy. Only Florida soundly beat the Tide in the SEC not that it mattered to the NCAA. But we should all be very proud of this team. Coach Gottfried is clearly a better talking head than a coach. It worked out well for everyone.

The old saying of "it's not getting knocked down that matters, it matters how you get up."  We did that. A rocky start gave way to a splendid finish. Make sure you go to the game. We have home court advantage as long as we win all the way to NYC. This NIT mess took me back to CM and Bear at the NIT. That NIT was a major breakthrough for the Tide. I can close my eyes and see Leon Douglas knocking baseball great Ron Brewer into the Minnesota band. I remember the excitement of the Garden. I hope to relive some of those special moments part two.

NCAA snubs Tide ...

When winning doesn't matter...

      I guess beating Georgia head to head and back to back meant nothing. This is not going to be a rant. Simply stunned at this point. Bama also beat Belmont, Kentucky, Tennessee and their cheating coach, We finished 2nd in the Conference. We finished the last third of our season on fire. I guess winning doesn't matter. Other teams have reason to complain. Georgia a 10 seed and we beat them twice. The second time we beat them Bama' intensive defensive pressure melted the dogs off the floor. But winning doesn't matter. Bama beat the God Almighty Kentucky Wildcats. But winning doesn't matter. We beat Tennessee on the road. Bruce Pearl gets rewarded for lying?  But winning doesn't matter. Didn't we beat Belmont. Isn't St. Peter's in the NCAA.

And if you finish 11th in your conference why should be rewarded with an NCAA bid. When nail down spot number 2 in our league and get zip. If you have 7 teams and 11 teams out of two conferences what are conferences designed to do?  I can hear the Coaches' pep talk. "all we have to do is finish 11th and we are in."

Here's the truth -  for whatever reason the NCAA simply wasn't going to select Alabama. The final conference win over Georgia that was touted as important wasn't. So when Bama whipped the Dawgs the first time an opportunity to beat the Tide might happen in the SEC Tournament.  It happened that Alabama whipped the Dawgs again. Georgia was on the bubble according to every bracket specialist would be lucky to get in even if they managed to beat Alabama. So if Alabama is so bad didn't those two losses fall under the bad losses column. Nope, something stinks here, and I think a lawsuit that Alabama won against the NCAA had a lot to do with what happened. Payback come in all types of packages.