Friday Feature Fires Bobby Petrino

Bobby Petrino is (was?) the Head Coach of the Razorbacks

Last night, Arkansas Athletic Director, Jeff Long, held a press conference to announce that Bobby Petrino  has been placed on administrative leave, barring further investigation:

"I hope to have a resolution soon," Long said. I certainly don't have all the answers here tonight, as we meet. But again, I have an obligation and responsibility to obtain the information and then act appropriately on that information."

If you missed the details of what happened, Petrino was involved in a motorcycle accident, which left him in the above state (also, the Police Report):

"Arkansas State Police was notified of a single vehicle motor vehicle crash along Highway 16 in Madison County near the Crosses community about 6:45 last night (Sunday)," the statement read. "The crash involved a motorcycle that had left the roadway. Coach Petrino was the operator of the motorcycle. He was transported to a Washington County medical facility."

From the outset, this had a Tiger Woods-like vibe. If you remember back in 2009, Tiger Woods was in a car accident on Thanksgiving night. The accident and impending marriage problems led to the unearthing of the many affairs that Woods had had over the years. He lost endorsements and he lost the allure that made him Tiger Woods.

Bobby Petrino is nowhere near the figure that Tiger Woods is or was, but the accident has really brought to question his integrity. In his previous statement, he lied about having a passenger, which calls to question his trustworthiness. There are many other questions that might come from this as more details of the incident make their way to the public, but at the moment, we have to hold judgment. Just reading his statement, I can't say things are going to be fine and dandy for Petrino:

“The state police report today provides an accurate description of my accident, which includes details that had not publicly come to light prior to the report being issued. I regret that I have not publicly acknowledged a passenger on the vehicle. I have been in constant pain, medicated and the circumstances involving the wreck have come out in bits and pieces. That said I certainly had a concern about Jessica Dorrell’s name being revealed. In my press conference, I referred to her simply as ‘a lady’. My concern was to protect my family and a previous inappropriate relationship from becoming public. In hindsight, I showed a serious mistake in judgment when I chose not to be more specific about those details. Today, I’ve acknowledged this previous inappropriate relationship with my family and those within the athletic department administration.

It feels like there is a whole can of worms waiting to be opened. Petrino probably hasn't done anything illegal, but he's done plenty to threaten the reputation of the University of Arkansas and everyone associated with it. Petrino has backed Long into a corner where Long will either have to fire a coach when there's no one better on the market or keep Petrino knowing that he [Long] cannot trust him. CBS Sports's Bruce Feldman speculates on what will happen:

Winning coaches often get the benefit of the doubt. And Petrino, love him or hate him--and most people outside of the state of Arkansas tend to go with the latter, is a superb offensive coach. He is 34-17 in four seasons at Arkansas in the toughest division in college football. Two seasons ago, the Hogs finished 12th in the nation. Last year, they finished fifth. They're going to be loaded on offense again, led by QB Tyler Wilson and running back Knile Davis, and they have both Alabama and LSU at home. Expectations are soaring. Or at least they were till Thursday night. 

It is such a mess. Can he go back to work after being at the center of this? How does he face his co-workers? His team? How does he sit down in a recruit's home on the couch and speak to the kid or his parents after this? Some people I spoke to Thursday night (several who work in college athletes) said they don't see how Petrino can survive this. Really? It wouldn't surprise me at all. While these are valid questions, we've seen repeated instances of coaches getting themselves into awkward and embarrassing situations time and time again and yet, if the guy is a winner, people will give them another chance. Lots of folks have short memories. A lot shorter than those it seems of the media--and rival fans. It happens so often we just shrug our shoulders whenever that guy later says something that sounds like pure rhetoric, and yet a thirsty fan base is usually right there to vigorously defend him and administrators and boosters are there to pay him lots of money provided the guy wins enough games and doesn't get stuck in any NCAA spiderwebs.

I understand that having a winning program is incredibly important, but perhaps what hurts Petrino the most is the fact that he lied to the AD and paraded himself in public prior to the Dorrell news getting out. He was hailed as some sort of warrior for gutting out the injuries to return to practice. While it did take some courage to get back to work, there was an element of the truth missing. That element, as it turns out, is a big part of the story.

By parading himself out in the media while perpetuating a lie, he has put Arkansas in an extremely difficult situation, but I think Bobby Petrino has coached his last game for the Arkansas Razorbacks. The one thing that schools do not want any part of is scandal. While keeping a winning team is important, there will be moral pressure from alumni and administration to let him go. There is too much at stake.

I'm not sure how it's going to affect the current team. I'm not sure if it's too late to gain entry into the NFL Draft. I will say, however, that if Tyler Wilson does get into the draft, he'll probably be the third best QB on the board behind Luck and RG3. I mean Ryan Tannehill? Come on.

***

Last night, Boston College rolled through Minnesota to get into the final where they will face Ferris State. I did not watch either of these games due to the poor quality of my ESPN U. From what I've heard, the Ferris-Union game was pretty even whereas the BC-Minnesota game was anything but. Boston College is not only one of the most talented teams, but also the hottest. They will be an overwhelming favorite to win the National Championship on Saturday night. There's really not that much to add.

***

If you haven't been already, make sure you watch Shutdown Fullback, a show featuring EDSBS's Spencer Hall and SBNation's Jason Kirk. The show features a lot of laughs at the expense of everyone. My follow of the week would go to Eight Ball the Tiger, the fictional account of Clemson's drugged out mascot. There will be a lot of programs that will have their Spring Game this weekend, including Clemson, Florida State, Georgia, and South Carolina, so hopefully I'll have some reaction from those.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Idea for Formulating Tournament Success

This is more me spitballing to try and come up with a good concept. I'm having trouble thinking in my head, so I thought it would be a good idea to get some of these things down. As I said before, some of the stats I look at most are free throw percentage, rebounding margin, and assist-turnover ratio. It's been hard for me to combine all of the concepts that I'm working with, so it might be better to keep them separate for the time being. What I have been working on mostly is playing with the rebounding margin statistic.

The rebounding margin statistic, to me, is all about the ability to gain extra possessions (from previous post that is linked above): 

If you are outrebounding your opponent, you are either preventing second chance opportunities or you are getting second chances opportunities.

I thought about other statistics which are suggestive of a team's ability to gain more or lose possessions. I added steals and blocks to the rebounding margin and subtracted turnovers. Basically, you have a statistic which measures your ability to take away a possession from the other team or to give away a possession in addition to your rebounding margin. The results of this statistic were pretty interesting (Top 10 teams):

1. Kentucky
2. North Carolina
3. Ohio State
4. St. Mary's
5. Michigan State
6. BYU
7. Kansas
8. New Mexico State
9. Wichita State
10. Connecticut

Kentucky obviously went on to win the tournament and Kansas was the runner up. North Carolina, Ohio State and Michigan State also made deep runs. Most of the other schools like St Mary's, New Mexico State, and Wichita State are mid-major who may not have played a high level of competition and therefore their statistics might have been a bit inflated.

The bottom 10 teams of the statistic is pretty telling as well as most of these teams did not win many games:

68. Mississippi Valley State
67. Colorado State
66. Western Kentucky
65. Long Island University - Brooklyn
64. Michigan
63. Norfolk State
62. Notre Dame
61. UNC-Asheville
60. Iona
59. Ohio

Ohio had two wins in the tournament, one of which came against Michigan. Norfolk State shocked Missouri in one of the 15-2 upsets. Most of the rest of these teams are some of the worst teams in the tournament. Michigan and Notre Dame are big conference teams, and it's clear that this is part of the reason that they lost in the first round.

I guess just looking at these numbers, you can get a pretty decent idea of which teams will be successful, but I'd also look at them head to head. I think the Ohio-Michigan example is a good one because while Ohio is not good in this statistic, they are better than Michigan. This is not the only aspect of the game that I think is important, but I do think that this can be a significant indicator of tournament success.

I'm having trouble gauging how to make the free throw percentage statistic effective. It doesn't matter how well you shoot free throws if you're not getting to the line. As I said before, I've mostly played around with the rebounding statistic, and this is a statistic that I will probably play with next. I think it would have to be more of a power index as far as the teams that are going to be physical. I'd probably look at free throw attempts, but I'd also want to see how it goes along with rebounding margin or at least look at offensive rebounds. This is going to be more tricky as it'll be tougher to find correlation with winning.

I've sort of ignored the assist-turnover statistic because that one to me has more to do with looking at rosters. I haven't really gone through the rosters because I'm not sure how I am going categorize and index depth. May be after I look at a few rosters, I can get an idea of how the average roster looks and work off of that.

There's still a lot of work to be done.

The Dark Underbelly of College Sports

It's always weird to see people's reaction to winning a National Championship. It should be a moment of joy. It should be a celebration. People should be happy. Only good should come out of it. This is just a very utopian view on how a championship should be handled.

In reality, it is much different.

Kentucky won the Men's National Championship last night, and afterwards, there was no question about how their fans would celebrate their championship:

A clue to the bedlam that would occur in Lexington, KY

The end product wasn't just the burning of couches; it was rioting, fires, and even some gun shots. Cars were flipped over. Does that sound like jubilation to you? The police say that this behavior is intolerable:

"We want to send a clear and strong message that individuals who engage in this behavior will be investigated and prosecuted," Lexington Police Chief Ronnie Bastin said. "If you choose to commit criminal acts, don't be surprised when we knock on your door even days after the event and arrest you."

But it doesn't change the fact that this happened. It's hard to say the police weren't complacent when images such as this are on the internet:

In fact, the number one trend on Twitter last night was "#LexingtonPoliceScanner" as many people, myself included, listened to the mayhem that was being reported on the radio. It was disappointing the way these people were acting.

I don't have a problem with people celebrating a championship in the streets. As long as it is controlled and people respect others' property, it's fine. The scene out of Lexington was anything but these things:

This is a city where students live and go to school. While there is reason to be excited, that excitement should not be directed towards the destruction of property. You don't show how much you love your team in that manner. In addition to all the physical damage, you're doing damage to your own personal reputation and the reputation of your school and even your state.

I can't say that police didn't care because they were largely outnumbered, but there could have been more done. There could have been a better plan. When Michigan State was knocked out of the tournament, the students first instinct was to riot and start couch fires. The police had a plan: they watered down the couches. While there was some damage, that was limited by the rallying cry for destruction that the couch fires seem to be. When the police is ordering each other "maintain integrity," it's hard to believe in the commitment of the Lexington Police Department to stop this wave of destruction.

Unfortunately, this has become the status quo in college towns if something goes right or wrong. In an environment of young misguided adults, where alcohol is plentiful, this has become the standard reaction. After Penn State fired Joe Paterno, students rioted. After Alabama won the Football National Championship, a Bama fan teabagged a LSU fan. Also, after Auburn won the 2011 Football Championship, a Bama fan poisoned the famed trees on the Auburn campus. These are just a few acts of destruction in recent years.

It's unacceptable, but it has become the dirty underbelly of college sports culture.

***

On one of the forums that I post on, a Cuse fan made the case that they could have beat Kentucky:

There were only two teams, IMO, that had a real shot at knocking off Kentucky this year: UNC and Syracuse. Syracuse because of their athleticism, depth, ability to run (they could have run with UK), and if it's played to its potential, their 2-3 zone could cause anyone fits. And UNC because of all their NBA talent. 

But losing perhaps each teams' most indispensable players (for SU Fab Melo, BE defensive player of the year, anchors the middle, shot-blocker supreme; and for UNC Kendall Marshall, one of the best point guards in the country...makes that team go) ended all hopes at that. 

UK proved all year long that they were the best team in the country. I am ok with that (I'd rather it have been my alma mater, but oh well).

I guess you can play hypotheticals if you want, but my big problem with all of this is that I believe Syracuse's record and seeding was inflated by the fact that Melo had played as long as he did. Furthermore, Syracuse didn't announce that Melo was ineligible until after the bracket was announced. They probably knew he was ineligible well before then, but decided to wait until the bracket was set in stone to make that announcement. Again, one of the keys here is that Syracuse is the one who ruled him ineligible and not the NCAA. They also hid behind the FERPA so that they didn't have to disclose more.

While I think Boeheim was right to rule him ineligible for the tournament, I'd have also liked to know if he should have been deemed ineligible sooner. I think Syracuse benefited from choosing when to announce that Melo would miss the tournament. If Melo's absence had been announced before the bracket is finalized, I could see Syracuse dropping a seed. They could have easily lost in an earlier round facing a strong 3 or 6 seed in the Sweet Sixteen. It could be said that Syracuse did as well as they did in the tournament because they had an easier route as a 1 seed. Syracuse was hurt in the tournament by Melo's absence, but they could have been hurt sooner had they announced his ineligibility sooner.

On the other hand, UNC may have lost because of an injury and not due to any wrongdoing by a player or coach. That is something that you really can't control, but it is the reality of playing games. I have less of a problem with Carolina fans playing the "what if" game because of this. The bottom line is that you don't crown a champion on paper. As sports followers, we love to play the hypotheticals, but in the end, they really don't matter after the fact. Kentucky is the deserving National Champion as they've shown all season long that they are the best team in the country. They were the number one seed in the tournament going in and they proved that they were the top team in the tournament by winning the whole thing.

***

The Melo story makes me question if the NCAA handles students' academic situations right. From what I've heard, Melo was in poor academic standard through out the season. While he was suspended for three games, it's hard for me to believe that he was actually eligible to play. If Boeheim had his way, I believe Melo would have played in the tournament, but with the Bernie Fine scandal, he could not afford to take another hit to his reputation. I'm surprised that Melo played in the Big East tournament.

It was also reported today that Mo Claiborne, the LSU cornerback entering the NFL draft, scored a 4 on his Wonderlic. The score doesn't stand out as much to me as the question how he managed to stay eligible at LSU. How can you be at a major academic institution and score a 4 on the Wonderlic? It's preposterous and the NCAA should do better to make sure these kids are actually being educated. 

These two stories make it worrisome as to whether the academic aspect of college sports is taken seriously. While the NCAA might talk up its student-athletes' performances in the classroom and beyond, that's just PR. How do you explain things like this? It's hard for me to believe that they actually care about educating these kids.

At the time that I wrote this, I was unaware that Mo Claiborne had a learning disability, which in the case of this test, can make a huge difference. I still have to stay on the NCAA for not putting enough of an effort towards pushing schools to educating student-athletes and keeping them out of trouble and prepared for life. 

***

My bracket finished 34,511 out of just under 7 million entries. That puts me into the top 0.5%, which is very impressive. In the meantime, I've started to play with numbers to try to formulate the thinking that went into those picks. Hopefully, I'll have something to post about in the next few weeks.

Weekend Review Brags About My Bracket

First, I'd like to apologize for thinking that the Frozen Four was this weekend. I always forget that they're not on consecutive weekends. I guess I will just quote everything from Friday's post or try to bring something else on Friday. 

I was having a conversation with my friend yesterday about the success of my bracket. He asked if I had an algorithm that I was using and I promptly responded that I used my brain. That's not completely true. I did use some stats that I believe are important in the tournament. I also used some favoritism to teams with coaches that have had a track record of tournament success. There wasn't a given formula though; I just kept these stats in mind when making picks.

Free Throw Percentage:
My thinking with Free Throws is that they're huge in close games. If you're leading and you can't hit your free throws, you're going to have a tough time holding onto the lead because you're going to get fouled. If you're trailing and you can't hit your free throws with the clock stopped, you're screwed as well. Free throw percentage is important. You have to get to the line and make your free throws.

It's not just about team free throw percentage, but you have to look at the guys who will get the ball. Who plays the most? Who handles the ball? Those are the guys who will probably be fouled and relied upon to hit the free throws. As you will notice with most of these stats, I have the philosophy of looking at things from both a macro (team) and micro (star players/ball handlers) perspective.

Rebound Margin:
Rebounding is one of my favorite stats in college basketball. I think it's important for a number of reasons.  If you are outrebounding your opponent, you are either preventing second chance opportunities or you are getting second chances opportunities. Furthermore, it is suggestive that you are a physical team and physical teams usually draw fouls and can get the other team in foul trouble. Fouls equal free throws and if you're also a good free throw shooting team (see above), you can get points with the clock stopped. Fouls also challenge the depth of the other team. That's always a good thing.

There isn't one thing I look for and certainly height and weight aren't everything. I do glance at the roster to see if there is more than one player contributing to this, since depth is also an important factor. If one player gets into foul trouble or injured, it's important for others to be capable of doing the job.

Assist-Turnover Ratio:
Taking care of the basketball can make or break a team. I think this statistic is a good gauge of how a team does that. First, assists are a statistic that measures a team's ability to create field goals. Turnovers take away the chance to get points. You're going to be playing some good teams in the tournament. If you can't take care of the basketball, you're not going to win your games.

Individually, you want to make sure there is more than one person who can deliver. This is to see if the team is generally good at taking care of the ball, or whether it's more up to one player. If it is up to one player, then there are depth concerns. If your primary ball handler is in foul trouble or hurt, can you continue to succeed? It's very concerning.

Conference:
This might have to be more associated with RPI. I favor teams that play in tougher conference than I do teams that faced weaker competition. Part of that is looking at teams that got into the tournament, the rest has to do with general perception. Are these teams being tested in the regular season? How are the OOC schedules and results? I think I'll look more at RPI in the future. The problem with using RPI, many times, is that I personally might lean on it too much if I use it.

This year, the Pac-12 was weak and the Big Ten was strong. The results, in many ways, confirm this. You really can't rely on purely conference vs conference though. This is how you see a team like Baylor and Missouri losing, while a team like Kansas makes the Final Four. You have to be selective.

Coaching:
Certain coaches do their best work at tournament time. Have you noticed that your bracket has been busted year after year by teams coached by the same coach? Are these teams outplaying their ranking, their talent, their match ups? Why do you think that is?

I respect the work of certain coaches come tournament time. These are coaches like Tom Izzo and Rick Pitino whose teams have devastated my bracket year after year. I think I'm going to have to add someone like Billy Donovan and, perhaps, Shaka Smart to that list. We're not talking teams that necessarily win it all, but rather, teams that make deeper runs than you would expect.

I'll have to take a bigger look at the other side of the card; coaches who lose early compared to their talent.


Other Things I May Have Kept In Mind:
Some other things I might keep in mind are injuries (or absences), experience, and how hot a team is.

Syracuse lost Fab Melo to eligibility issues which deprived a talented team with one of its best players. I still had them going to the Elite Eight, but when you consider a match up Ohio State, who has a big physical player like Jared Sullinger, you had to think the Buckeyes would fair well in that game. Another injury that I consider was the injury concerns with UNC's John Henson. Again, I had them going deep in the tournament, but I had them losing to a tough and physical Kansas team. Ultimately, what hurt them the most was the absence of Kendall Marshall.

Experience is also important. If you have players who have been there before, they are probably going to better handle adverse situations. Furthermore, upperclassmen are more likely to give it their all, knowing that their time is coming up. There's the leadership aspect. I can't specifically mention teams that I picked that may have benefited from this. I know one team (Michigan) who I overrated because of this.

How hot a team is coming into the tournament is very important. If a team isn't playing well coming into the tournament, there's a chance they can get caught along the way, no matter how talented they are. It seems like teams that do well in their conference tourney generally do well in the one and done format of the NCAA tournament. Look at teams like Cincinnati and Louisville to see this. Teams that struggle in their conference tournament (Michigan) are less likely to do well.

Conclusion:
Obviously, I can't claim to have done perfectly. I had a horrible first round, which might be preventing me from winning the $10,000 for winning the tournament challenge. I may have also benefited from having higher ranked teams in the Final Four, but I've done better as the tournament has gone along and that's something. I do think there is some significance to the stats that I pointed to. I'd like to take a deeper look into them and actually develop an actual algorithm.

***

I don't think there's much to add from other sports because the tournament was the big story of the weekend.

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.

***

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.

***

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.

***

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.

Weekend Wrap: Taking Tampa and New Orleans by Storm

Stevie might be going to Tampa, but I won't be, nor will my Michigan Wolverines. Michigan lost 3-2 to Cornell in OT on Friday night. Out of disappointing moments, you have to find the good. Shawn Hunwick is one of the classiest players there is:

So he crouched down and grabbed that puck and put it in his glove. For once, he would skate off with it. 

He made toward the benches, toward his teammates, toward his friends. They said little. 

As they patted him on the back, he skated on until he arrived not as his bench, but at the bench next to it, where he found a Cornell assistant coach. 

For the last time, Hunwick took the puck out of his glove, and he handed it to the coach whose team had just defeated him. It was their goal, not his, and he wanted them to have it.

I always find that I'm more disappointed because the players didn't get a chance to win than I am for my own interests or my own school. They're the ones that make the program so special. This year was no exception. With the heartbreak of last season, I really wanted Hunwick, Luke Glendening, David Wohlberg, and Greg Pateryn to get their chance to shine. They're the seniors. They're the ones that
 make it all possible. I was more disappointed for them than I was for myself.

They had great careers and I wish them the best in their future endeavors.

***

The Frozen Four competitors are BC, Minnesota, Ferris State, and Union. The bracket is set up nicely for a David and Goliath final as traditional powers BC and Minnesota face off in one semi and Ferris State and Union in the other. I've got to pull for the winner of Ferris and Union because both of those schools have never won a title. It would be an incredible story. BC would be tough because I'd never hear the end of it from BC fans, but they do have the best program in the country right now. Minnesota would also be tough as the BTHC is on the other side of the horizon.

It should provide for some awesome hockey.

***

The Elite Eight wrapped up last night, and we have our Final Four competitors. Sunday, Kentucky demolished Baylor with alley oops and just generally being the most talented team in the country, and Kansas outlasted UNC to book the last spot in New Orleans. They'll be joined by Ohio State and Louisville who booked their places on Saturday.

All I can say is I'm scared for New Orleans.

While I don't think Buckeye basketball fans are nearly as bad as Buckeye football fans, I'm not sold on them not being bad. Kansas fans are Kansas fans and we should expect that a lot of them will travel to NOLA. Oh, and they're going to be joined by the entire state of Kentucky. Yeah, that Kentucky. It's the perfect recipe for disaster.

Regardless of my concerns for the city, it should be a great Final Four with four big time basketball programs. Despite John Calipari's history of failure in the Final Four, his team will be the favorites in New Orleans. The talent on that team is undeniable, but Calipari will remain one of the big stories:

Calipari almost has to return to Lexington with a national championship. If he doesn't, fairly or unfairly, the whispers will become shouts: His one-and-dones can't get it done … he needs to recruit players who aren't infatuated with the NBA … he can't win the big one.

The way Calipari runs his program is controversial from an ethical stand point so far as how we view amateur athletics. Many of his players are like mercenaries, using Kentucky as a stage to feature for the NBA draft and nothing more. There's no passion for Kentucky. It's about the future, not the present. There will be basketball tomorrow if they don't win. There will be money to play basketball to boot.

If it isn't about Calipari, it will be about Calipari versus Pitino:

John Calipari’s Kentucky Wildcats and Rick Pitino’s Louisville Cardinals don’t meet until Saturday in the Final Four, but the signs are evident that this isn’t just the latest flare-up of their long-simmering rivalry, or even just an historic, high-stakes meeting between two programs bitterly opposed to each other.

That, alone, will make this one of the most anticipated, heated and intense college basketball games ever played.

There is going to be a lot of hype going into that game. The game itself will either be really interesting or a bore. Kentucky is the best team in the country. Louisville came out of nowhere to win the Big East Tournament and to make this run. I've always said that Pitino is one of the best coaches in the tournament. He's proven it this year. He could prove his worth further with a win over Big Blue.

The other game is a rematch between Ohio State and Kansas from earlier this year. The big story will be the fact that Jared Sullinger is healthy as he was missing from the first game which the Jayhawks took in Lawrence back in December. Bill Self knows it will be a big challenge:

"We caught a break the first time when Jared didn't play, and we were kind of finding ourselves," Kansas coach Bill Self said. "We knew they were a team that could make a run and win a national championship. They have so many pieces that are so good. It starts with Jared."

Sullinger, for his part, knows that the burden of being the difference will be on him:

"At the end of the day [Matta] told me this team goes as I go and just play my game," Sullinger said on Feb. 28, the day before he scored the game-winning basket in the final seconds at Northwestern. "As long as I play and show emotion and play with energy, this team should be where we were when we were beating teams by 15-plus points. 

"I know I've probably been dogged by a lot of people who are saying I'm not as good as I used to be. But at the end of the day, it's not about what they think, it's about how we can win basketball games."

He certainly has the talent to do it as do his teammates. I'm actually really interested in that game. It should be one of the best of the year. I have Kentucky and Kansas in my Championship game, so that's who I think will see the finals, but that's not to say we won't see two entertaining games.

***

ON A META-NOTE: I'll be trying to have a more regular posting schedule, shooting for a Monday, Wednesday, Friday schedule with possible specialty posts in between.

Hockey, Hockey, and More Hockey

My Church.

I love Michigan Hockey.

In college, my housemates and I used to do almost everything together. We'd drink together, go to the bars, get groceries, and get fast food. We say together at football games. Most of the things that we did, we did together.

Michigan Hockey was my thing.

I was the only one in my house to have season tickets. I was the only one who cared about it at all. I convinced one of my housemates to come with me to a game once. He had fun, but he only went that one time. I went as much as I could, which was every game on the home schedule.

For me, it was a religious experience driven by both Yost's quaint antiquity, raucous environment, as well as my personal routine of going to the games. I would always walk alone to to the games. Whether it was warm or freezing, I went. If I had a vuvuzela in my hands, leaving myself vulnerable to the Michigan winter chill, I went. Schoolwork to do, a big party, dinner to eat, I put it all off for the two or three hours that I'd spend every Friday and Saturday at Yost.

It was because I love Michigan Hockey.

***

Yost itself is an experience. It's old and many of the bleachers are wooden. I believe they are going to replace them in the renovation and I hope it doesn't take away the charm. The seats are right on top of the ice, and there's no question why it has the best crowds in college hockey. The history is all there. you can feel it as you walk into the arena. You can see it in the huge trophy cases by the North walls. You can hear it being made as the crowd rings out its cheers.

There's a reason for why it's so awesome (from the WSJ article linked above):

Unless, of course, you walk into a college hockey arena. 

For a number of reasons, this niche sport, which is concentrated in the Northeast and Midwest, has become a showplace for unusual stadium architecture—and on many campuses, the best fan experience going.

I don't think it's fair to call it a "niche sport," but I will agree that it's an under the radar sport in college. Not all schools have teams like they do for basketball or football. College hockey has yet to see the spoils of mainstream popularity. At the same time, this is what keeps it special.

The lack of mainstream popularity has meant that the sport hasn't been corrupted by high ticket prices and the generic, cavernous arena. It's still accessible to the diehard. It's still intimate with storied rinks. It's still raw and untamed, allowing for vicious, yet fun chants. It's still pure.

***

Michigan has the most successful hockey program in the country. We have 9 NCAA Championships, countless Conference Championships and Conference Tournament Championships, and many Frozen Four appearances. There's also the matter of the streak. Michigan has made the NCAA tournament an unprecedented 22 years in a row.

A lot of that would not be possible without Red Berenson.

Berenson is in many ways Michigan hockey. He was a star player for Michigan and he rescued the program from mediocrity when he took over the program in 1984. The program was on the brink of collapse and the culture was a far cry from the dominance of the early years. Berenson has changed that and Michigan is Michigan again. Zach Helfand of the Michigan Daily had a great feature chronicling the Berenson era in the Daily this morning:

Sparked by the snub in 1990 and with the credibility from the 1991 tournament run to grab top recruits, Berenson brought the team to the verge of the National Championship game in 1991 and 1992. Each time, those seniors too suffered a painful ending to their careers.

With the expectation of success, heart break becomes an inevitable piece of the puzzle. Despite the unheralded consistency with which Michigan has appeared in the tournament, they've only one two championships. Losing in the tournament is the worst feeling in the world and last year's final loss was one of my darkest days.

Today marks the beginning of a new opportunity. It's a new tournament and a new chance to add to the legacy. There's new hope. I'm excited for this year's tournament because if things go right, we have a chance at something special.

***

At this point, I'm going to link all sorts of Hockey Christmas links. Hoover Street Rag has its annual Hockey Christmas Tournament Challenge. I'll take Michigan, Boston College, Miami, and North Dakota. The United States of Hockey has previews for all of the regions. Yost Built has a preview of the Michigan-Cornell game and MGoBlog has previews of Cornell, Denver, and Ferris State.

MGoUser stephenrjking recounts a magical time when regionals were played at college barns and Yost hosted the 2002 regional, also known as the Greatest Weekend in Yost History.

Lastly, Merry Hockey Christmas everyone! Have a good weekend as well!