Friday: Football First, Champions All Weekend

Bret Bielema loves his used quarterbacks

It's a new year, so do you know what that means? A new old quarterback for Wisconsin. While most of us are searching for new quarterbacks to join our team, Bert Bielema, for the second year in a row, has picked up a used quarterback. Of course, it worked for Bielema and the Badgers in the first year as Russell Wilson proved to be no lemon, leading Wisconsin to a Big Ten Championship and the Rose Bowl. Bielema will hope that Danny O'Brien, who is transferring from Maryland, can have the same sort of impact that Wilson did. He could very well be a lemon; we hear Randy Edsall drives his players hard.

O'Brien won't be the only player transferring out of the Maryland program this year; Avery Graham will also be leaving the program. Randy Edsall just took over the program last year, so some attrition should have been expected. The Terps are having some crazy attrition under Edsall with 13 players leaving the program in the last four months. Additionally, with the way Edsall left things at Connecticut, you have to have some concerns about the way things are going if you're a Maryland fan. The Terrapins went 2-10 with a 1-7 Conference record in Edsall's first season. As bad as he's been, he still managed to bring in some top in-state talent. This suggests that the Edsall era could turn around, but it seems like things are headed for a train wreck finish.

In a week with two Championships to be awarded, I still started with football. Yeah, I miss it. A lot.

There isn't much other news, considering it's Spring Practice and all. No, I don't consider the new Big East schedule news. They might still be an AQ Conference, but that doesn't mean I'm going to treat them like one! Slightly bigger news is that the MAC released their conference schedule. I'm excited because the MAC always plays games during the week, allowing us to enjoy college football beyond Saturday.

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Before we get into the Frozen Four, I just wanted to take the opportunity to congratulate Shawn Hunwick on his ATO contract with the Columbus Blue Jackets. Columbus seems to be where goaltenders go to die, so be careful. Also, Columbus, if you do play Hunwick, you're never going to take him out. That's just kind of the way it works. Ask the Children of Yost. They'll tell you all about it.

Hunwick is not the only one signing a pro-deal, as this is the time where the good NCAA teams' season ends, many seniors are jumping to the NHL. Spencer Abbott, Torey Krug, and Reilly Smith are a few of the many others who've made the leap. Abbott and Krug, like Hunwick, were undrafted free agents and could sign with any team. This is standard operating procedure following the season, and usually, these seniors have already had the credits to graduate, so there's no conflict in that regard. These guys are fulfilling their dreams, so congratulations to them.

The four teams that are still in the hunt will be heading to Tampa this weekend. As I said in my last post, the primary storylines will be focused on a David and Goliath final. For example, Union doesn't even offer scholarship aid for their athletes:

The Dutchmen hope to become the first non-Ivy, non-scholarship squad to hoist the trophy, and ultimately it’s a perfect combination of hard work, chemistry and determination by both staff and skaters alike that has allowed Union to come this far.

Union not only has to get talented players, but talented players who can pay. That's a huge difference from the big schools like Michigan, Notre Dame, and Minnesota that can offer scholarships to talented players. Furthermore, Union, right or wrong, doesn't have the same academic reputation that the Ivy League schools do, so there's a lot that the school has to contest with. It's a great story. If you decide to root for Union, the player to watch out for is #27 Jeremy Welsh. He's an undrafted free agent (though only a junior) and he was scouted by the likes of the Bruins and Blackhawks in the first round of the tournament.

Of course, the other underdog is Ferris State, who have don't have a single NHL player on their roster. Despite this, they won the CCHA regular season title over several teams that are littered with NHL talent. Ferris is a player driven team:

"College hockey has always thrived with the small schools," Daniels said. "It's such a team sport. You can have your star athletes, but if you have a roster full of good players, really good kids, all schools can be successful. You don't have to be a mega school in order to win. 

"We felt we were going to have a good team this year, but certainly not to this level," Daniels said. "Realistically, by the time we hit Christmas, the team was so self-corrective, such a mature group of kids, they just take it in stride much more than people realize. It got to a point in the second half of the year, as coaches we became more chaperones. The identity is it is a player-driven group, a player-driven team."

The talent isn't there, but the spirit is unquestionable. No NHL players. Compare that with a team like Michigan which had 12 players that have been drafted by the NHL. That is a huge difference. Of all the teams to represent the CCHA in the Frozen Four, they are the one. It's a great story.

On the other side of the bracket, you have two college hockey giants. Boston College and Minnesota have 9 NCAA Championships between them. They are two of the biggest programs in college hockey. They're household names. It's highly likely that they winner will be a favorite in the Final. It has been a while since Minnesota has been in the Frozen Four though:

"They understand what the expectations are of the program and they want to live up to those," Lucia said. "They want to, during their time here, be able to add to the tradition. The kids come here because of the tradition, but they want to leave here having added to the tradition."

This is more an opportunity to return to glory than an underdog story though. Minnesota's program has so much mystique and history that  it can get the top players. While they might have a deeper history than BC, the Eagles' recent success, including 3 in the last 15 years, has given the program the same stature. As much as I hate to admit it (grew up a BU Terriers fan), the Eagles have had the best team all season and are the hottest team in the tournament. They are the favorites, and so far they've been dominant in the tournament:

“It’s an interesting dynamic to have one team from each league,’’ said BC coach Jerry York, whose Eagles have won 17 straight. “It’s happened before but it’s certainly exciting. Hey, you can’t go down to Best Buy and just buy a ticket. You have to earn your way here. 

“The (Northeast) region was a really hard climb for us,” said York, whose Eagles handed Air Force its first shutout loss, 2-0, before blanking defending champion Minnesota-Duluth, 4-0, in a hard-hitting affair. “The hardest thing for a team to do at this time of year is take away another team’s sticks. It’s hard to do.”

Their opponents have yet to score. They're on a 17 game winning streak. They won the Beanpot. They won the Hockey East tournament. The Eagles aren't good; they're great. They're the best team in the country and they have everything going for them. I'd be surprised if they didn't win it all, giving Jerry York's 5th National Championship and his 4th with the Eagles.

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Unlike the Frozen Four, the Final Four features huge programs and therefore, you really have nothing to go off of in rooting interests. I am really interested in the battle of Kentucky. It's kind of a big deal. Not convinced? The biggest sports arena in the state played party lines, representing both schools:

Churchill Downs representing both Kentucky and Louisville.

The Battle of Kentucky is just one of the angles. It is important though:

They are mercenaries, but they are awfully talented. There are a few players that will be first round picks. Anthony Davis is being hyped as the top overall pick. While many are speculating that they could beat a NBA team, Coach John Calipari is quick to shoot down those claims:

“This team could not beat one N.B.A. team,” he said definitively Thursday at a pre-Final Four news conference. “Not one. The worst team in the league we could not beat.”

This might be more the case of a coach wanting his team to stay humble, to stay focused. The NBA questions also really draws focus on Kentucky's one and done players; players who come to school for one year before they go pro. It brings to question the practice of bringing these players in. Obviously, the rabid win-at-all-costs Kentucky fanbase doesn't care. It just doesn't seem like a college program.

They are unselfish and they play as a team though:

The idea to buy into what Calipari wanted from his team started back in October. From the first practice, the quartet of five-star freshmen and the three returning starters meshed perfectly. Each player was a star on his high school team. But each player had to take a back seat to the team this season, putting his NBA prospects aside and buying into the idea of winning a national championship.

Does that sound familiar at all? Personally, that description sounds like the Fab Five. They were five highly touted freshmen who were criticized for everything besides their play. Everyone thought they were undisciplined, selfish, and any other criticism you can think of. In actuality, they were a well oiled machine that moved the ball around unselfishly and played with style and discipline. They had swagger. Kentucky has been hyped like the Fab Five this year.

I don't think there's any Duke or North Carolina type team to stop them.

I don't think Louisville is the team to stop them. They've been a nice story and they've had a nice run which has created some great story lines for this game, but they're not good enough to hang with Kentucky. It'll be up to the winner of the Ohio State-Kansas game to take down might Kentucky.

I'll be rooting for Kansas. This may seem obvious considering my obligatory dislike for Ohio State, but I'm rooting for the Jayhawks because of Thomas Robinson. There are few NCAA players who've been through as much as Robinson:

How could he? It was last year, on Jan. 21, 2011, that Robinson's cellphone famously buzzed with a voice mail from his then-seven-year-old sister, Jayla, back home in Washington, D.C. A return call confirmed the worst: their mother, Lisa, had died late that night of an apparent heart attack. A single mom, Lisa was just 43. In the six weeks prior, the Robinson siblings had already lost their maternal grandmother and their maternal grandfather. Soon Kansas coaches, teammates and four teammates' mothers converged upon that living room in Robinson and Johnson's two-bedroom suite. The whole scene, Kansas coach Bill Self would say, "was the saddest thing I've ever seen in my life."

Robinson is a player you want to succeed. They're the team I'll root for this weekend if I get the chance to watch the action this weekend. Ohio State is probably one of the hottest teams in the country and they'll be a game opponent if they have to face Kentucky as well. Sullinger has been phenomenal in the tournament as have Craft, Thomas, and Buford. If they're clicking on all cylinders, they're as hard to beat as anyone in the country. Thad Matta has done a great job with that program.

It should be a great Final Four.

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Enjoy the weekend everyone. There's a lot to do and a lot to see. There are surely some great games to watch and there will be a lot to talk about on Monday. I should have something for you then.