College Recruiting

College football recruiting is about to undergo a drastic change... and not for the better.  As of August 1st of this year recruiting rules are changing so that college coaches and contact recruits as much as they want.  Apparently this is the NCAA's response to the ever growing social media fads.  You can read the specifics and some coaches reactions here Link.  The NCAA did this so they could focus on other more important issues, but I feel like this is an important issue, the NCAA needs to looks at what they are promoting with this new proposal.

To me this is promoting the wrong idea to potential recruits about the NCAA and how they view recruits.  The main goal for a high school student is to graduate with good grades and to develop relationships with people their own age.  Now with these new rules recruits will spend even more time than they do now reading emails, opening mail, checking their Facebook page all to see what kind of contact they got from what coach that day.  As if they are not busy enough already from the correspondents they get already from coaches, it will easily be at least 10x more now.  High schoolers need to focus on academics, or even getting a college football scholarship will not matter because they fail classes and do not graduate.  Just imagine a recruit sitting down to do his math homework that would normally take a half hour.  But after they sit down they get an email or text message from a college football coach every five minutes, it suddenly take over an hour to do homework.  And how can you concentrate on homework when every few minutes your attention is drawn to something completely unrelated to school work.

Another drawback is that now that there is no restrictions, bigger budget schools like Notre Dame, USC, Florida, Alabama are going to hire people not even related to football to send out brochures, flyers, portfolios, to send out texts messages and emails.  Athletic departments are going to increase in size just because schools are going to hire grunts to do all the manual laborer.  Which can be a good thing and a bad thing, it creates more jobs, but its a job that is ruining the future.  These new laws are also going to widen the recruiting gap that already exists between the big budget schools and the schools that do not receive much funding.  The more money a school has to buy people and to recruit, they better recruits they are going to get, it is pretty simple.

It will be really interesting to see what happens the first year these laws are in existence, and what the reactions will be from college coaches, because so far the vote seems to be split down the middle.

One more thing about college football recruiting, the NCAA needs to pass a law that makes it wrong for coaches to offer a scholarship or even contact a player before their junior year in high school.  kids that are 14-15 years old do not need to worry about where they are going to play college football, they are not or are barely into high school.  Another way this can go is if a college football coach sees a kids highlights when he was 15 and offer him a scholarship, and then that same players does not do as well as planned, and the coach takes away his offer, is that not going to devastate that kid, especially the younger they are.  This seems wrong.

This Is What We Like...Parity

In the wake of yet another #1 team losing this week, it is time for me to make my predictions of who the top five teams in college basketball will be at years end.  I heard that this is the fourth week in a row that a number one team has lost.

Personally I think this is great for college basketball.  I think people are getting sick of seeing the same teams at the top every year, the Dukes, the North Carolinas, the Kansas's, we like to see the upstart teams like Michigan this year, or even Indiana.  

So here we go with how I think this will play out in the end, and you do not have to take this is fact, but you may want to...just saying.

#5 Syracuse Orange

Now I know that Syracuse has not been playing as well lately as they can, but I think they still have the talent and defense to finish in the top five.  They are currently ranked ninth, but only have 3 losses and they play in the ever tough Big East.  So if they play well and do not accrue to many losses the rest of the season they have a legitimate shot of making a run at a number one seed again this year.  The zone defense that 'Cuse runs is very annoying to every opponent they play, it is not something teams see everyday and takes a lot of preparation for it because Syracuse runs it so well.  

#4 Michigan Wolverines

I am a fan of the Wolverines this year because they really came out of nowhere at the end of last year and played like they could be a top five this year.  And when I see a team up that high that is not usually there I always root for them to do well.  Michigan has a great mix of older players and young talent and they play very well together.  This team also has a few names that you might recognize on it like Glenn Robinson III, or Tim Hardaway Jr, you know these kids have talent because of their family heritage.  I always wonder about kids with famous parents, are they recruited for their last name or because they actually have talent and want to make their own name in basketball.  Anyway, not to get off topic, Michigan is the sleeper team this year, no one is really aware they are as good as they are, but that will change here in the next little while.

#3 Kansas Jayhawks

I think Kansas gets here thanks to the fact that they play in the Big 12, not the strongest conference in college basketball, and the Jayhawks are by far the most talented team in that conference.  I am not completely cold on Kansas especially recently after losing two in a row to Oklahoma State and TCU, not even close to a basketball school.  But once again because of the lack of good teams in the Big 12 Kansas will be just fine, and will rack up the wins.  The Jayhawks also have one of the better players in the league in Ben McLemore, a very exciting freshman with tons of talent.  

  

#2 Duke Blue Devils

Duke is a perennial powerhouse in college basketball, so is it a surprise to see their name up this high on the list?  Coach K ( I would put his whole name, but I do not have the time to spell it out) is the most successful coach in history of college basketball so you will see his team up here every year until he is gone.  Duke is a very experienced team, and a very big team, they have many many forwards and only a few guards.  Their size definitely causes match up problems for any team.  With Seth Curry playing as well as he has been so far this year, and with the Plumlee brothers camping down low, as the season goes on Duke is going to be a force to be reckoned with in the tournament, as always.  

#1 Indiana Hoosiers

Cody Zeller, that is all I need to say.  If this kid is not voted player of the year, it will be highway robbery.  He can score, he can rebound, he is a great defender and has the most all around game of anyone in college basketball.  I have watched Indiana play a few times on television and I have really been impressed with their team defense, as well as the individual defense played by Victor Oladipo, he is a lock down defender.  I have wanted Indiana to be an elite program for years now, because they did have a few seasons of mediocrity, and it is sad to see such a storied program down in the dumps for so long, and now they have the right coach to do the job.  The one thing that could keep the Hoosiers from being number one at the end of the season is there schedule, they play five teams in the top 25 before the end of the year, including my number four team Michigan.  But if they do end up beating all these teams, they will deserve to be number one.    

Well there it is, this is what I saw when I looked into my crystal ball I keep hidden away from the public.  I could very well be wrong, I mean look at all the craziness that has gone down already this year and there is still ten games left to go.  But I am taking an educated guess from what I have seen, and in conclusion, it is going to be a fun last few weeks. 

  

March Just May Be Madness

So in the midst of March Madness, I want to share my thoughts with what has gone on and what is going to happen here in the next two weeks. Let me just start by saying that all the upsets and crazy games that we have seen are the reason that we have March Madness, for the little schools or low seeds that win games.

All of the brackets that I have filled out are completely worthless, and I think that this is true for just about everyone haha. You can maybe guess some upsets that will happen but when a double digit seed makes it to the Sweet 16 it is really hard to predict that. Unless you are from one of those schools, then you have your team winning it all. Schools like VCU and Marquette give people hope when they bust into the Sweet 16, and personally I love it because I am always a fan of the underdogs. And alot of the teams that I dont like are traditionally high seeds so I love to see them lose too, so there is that haha. But like I said, every one loves a good cinderella story, like George Mason or Gonzaga in the past. Who will it be this year, VCU has played two very good games so far beating Georgetown and a very good Purdue team, and they have a chance to go to Elite 8 because they play a OK Florida State team. And Marquette even though they are from a power conference has kind of disappeared in the last few years after their head coach left for Indiana. So this is there jump back into the spot light, and I think they will be a team to watch out for the rest of the way. I am excited to see what happens the rest of the tournament, I am hoping for more upsets so I can still have hope in all the underdogs out there.

Now I want to address this kid oddly nicknamed Jimmer. If you have never heard of this kid, you must be living in a barn or under a rock, and I think you would of still have heard of him. This kid has taken the college basketball world by storm this year, he is easily an All-American, and is the front runner for player of the year. One cool thing about Jimmer is that he plays for BYU, when was the last time a player that went to BYU was up for player of the year, not a powerhouse like Duke or Ohio State, much less a West Coast school. His name should speak for itsself, or the notoriety that it has reached. To be "jimmered" is now an acceptable term to hear, there is also a remix of Teach Me How to Dougie, called, you guessed it Teach Me How to Jimmer. The reason that this kid is so good is because he can create hos own shot from anywhere on the floor, and when I say anywhere, I mean everywhere. Just look at this clip of a game against New Mexico where he scored only 52 points link. I think his official range is out to the half court line, and he makes it look easy. And just when you want to guard him tight, he uses his deceptively quick first step and intelligence to blow by you and get to the basket. Once he gets to the basket he uses his strength to draw the foul, where he shoots a, surprise, about 90 percent. Before I saw him play I wondered how he could score all those points, he must take almost all the teams shots and not pass, you know the classic "ballhog", but once I actually say him play I was very impressed with his court vision and his ability to pass the ball. I dont know what position he would play in the NBA because he is not a true point guard, and may be a little slow to play the 2 but we will see once he gets drafted. But I can say confidently now he is an amazing player and if you havent seen him play, look him up he is legit.

So my predictions for this tournament still holds strong because fortunately the team I picked to win it all is still in contention, and that team is the UConn Huskies. Their point guard Kemba Walker is to me the runner up for player of the year, he is a great true point guard but scores as well. UConn is one of the hottest teams coming into the tournament winning at least 6 games in a row, including 5 games in 5 nights in the Big East tournament.

This is obviously my favorite month of the year because it is all basketball all of the time, and it is any sports lovers dream. Now I am not able to watch every game due to my lack of cable but I try and watch every game that is on CBS, so if you wanna get a hold of me this month you know where I will be.

And now let me teach you how to jimmer:

College Football!

You know how excited I am that school is here, even though i am done with college. Because that means college football is here again! This is one of the greatest weekends ever because games stretch on from Thursday all the way until Monday, and on Saturday you can lay on the couch from 9 am until almost midnight, does that not sound like the best day ever? I have been watching all weekend, and even though I know I havent done anything, I still feel a sense of accomplishment. I cheered on my team even though it might have been the worst game we have ever played, and you know what, I dont care, I will watch them again and again. Thats what is great about college football, even if your team loses, next week it all starts again.

And there is nothing like college football, where else can you get a city, state, or country so pumped about one thing, every Saturday for months. The pride that comes with seeing your schools first game is something that cannot be duplicated anytime. Whether it is win or lose you know your school is trying with all their talent, and for that you should be proud. This is the time when you can identify with your team as "we", and place all your hopes on a team of your peers.

I know there are people out there who are bandwagon fans, and I say shame on them. They love their team, they say "we" when they talk about their team, but once they lose they call for the coaches head and say "they". I do not want to name universities where this happens, but lets say they are in close proximity to where I attended college. These people do not have as much pride, they cut their ties to their football team because they do not like to see the losing.

Not everyone feels the same way I do, but there is no better time of year than early September, the leaves change and the football fly. Pride is deep, and university colors become the colors you bleed.