NCAA proven right…

Billy Smith, Tennessee transfer Tyler Smith’s father, has passed away. Tyler, if you’ll remember, transferred into Tennessee in order to be closer to his ailing father, who was suffering from cancer.

The NCAA allowed Smith to transfer in without losing the year of elligibility due to the extreme circumstances - and has now been proven correct. The decision was a good one, otherwise Tyler would likely have not been close enough to be by his father’s side as he passed.

Not often will you hear me say this, but the NCAA got something right. In such a tragic time for Tennessee and Smith, great to see that the correct decision was made.

Text Messaging and Dick Vitale

The NCAA today decided to not reverse its’ decision to ban coaches’ ability to text message recruits. I couldn’t agree more. A recent recruit from Kentucky was smacked with over 500 dollars in text message costs stemming from a constant barrage of texts from coaches. It’s distracting and costly.

Dick Vitale is possibly the most biased and inept commentator I’ve seen in my entire [granted, comparaby short] life. His recent All-Rolls Royce Teams are an absolute joke. Here is how SEC Player-of-the-Year and #1 ranked point guard in America [per Rivals.com] candidate Jamont Gordon (who apparently missed the cut) compared to the rest of the five-team field.

• Gordon averaged 16.0 points per game last season, less than only 9 out of the 25 listed. Two players listed averaged less than 10 points per game.
• Gordon averaged 7.2 rebounds per game last season, less than only 6 out of the 25 listed. Much-heralded big-man DJ White from Indiana averaged only .1 rebound per game more than Gordon, and Jamont is a point guard.
• Gordon averaged 5.3 assists per game last season, less than only two players listed.
• No player in America averaged at least 16ppg, 7rbg, and 5apg.

Stats don’t lie. No player in America did more for his team and himself than Jamont Gordon. Not appointing him as the best overall player, or even the best at his position - that’s arguable. Not listing Gordon in the top 25 players in America is ludicris.

Let’s go ahead and begin considering Vitale’s “opinions” humorous, considering the jokes that they are, and purchase him a pair of Kentucky/Duke pom-poms.

The Best Joke Ever Told

There is a joke that trumps all jokes. One that is so ridiculous, so insanely ludicris that even the coldest, most protected individual is forced to succomb to overwhelming laughter. Or a smirk, at least.

This joke has a name. It’s called…”The NCAA Tournament Play-In Game”.

With so many ways to gawk, ridicule, and belittle, how can a simple blog author pick just one?

Let’s go ahead and get to the heart of the problem. In a tournament of 64 teams, the 65th team is snubbed. In a tournament of 16, it’d be the 17th team, and in a tournament of 256, it’d be the 257th team. If you’re the organization creating the rules (this is you, NCAA), you grit your teeth and bare the barrage of insults. It’s going to happen regardless, and the addition of the extra game is a joke in and of itself. If there is one element that holds the 64+1 team NCAA March Madness bracket from perfection, it’s the play-in game.

There is, however, something even more mind-boggling about all of this. If you were to ask an outsider to define a “play-in” game in referrence to a tournament setting, that person would likely describe two teams who must “play their way into” the tournament setting. However, this isn’t the case with March Madness. The NCAA forces the two lowest-selected auto-qualifying squads to face each other in this so-called “play-in” game.

Okay, now I’m confused. The two teams have already automatically qualified for inclusion in the tournament, yet they must “play their way in”?

So, here is my request. Either (A) Force the final two at-large selections to participate in the “play-in” game, or (B) Rename the game to “The Bottom Two Game” or something similar.

Or, the NCAA could show some intelligence for once and get rid of the abomination altogether.