Roethlisberger Guilty of Stupidity

  Ben Roethlisberger is in trouble again.
  The Steeler quarterback is under investigation for alleged sexual assault in Georgia.  This is on the heels of a 2009 civil lawsuit in which he was accused of sexual assault in Lake Tahoe, Nevada.  The case in Nevada never resulted in a criminal charge and Roethlisberger has denied the accusation.  He has countersued in that particular case.
  The recent allegation of this past weekend suggests Roethlisberger partied at no less than five different establishments before a 20-year-old female student claimed a sexual assault  happened in a bar. 
  In this country, you're innocent until proven guilty.  Unfortunately, Roethlisberger is already guilty...of being stupid.  When you're a two-time Super Bowl champion quarterback, nothing good can come from partying until the wee morning hours with strangers.
  If Roethlisberger wants to be mentioned in the same breath as Joe Montana, Troy Aikman, Kurt Warner, et al...he needs the same reputation they had off the field.

NCAA Conference Tournaments a Joke

Question for you: What team won the Big 10 conference post-season basketball tournament last year? 

I don't know either.  Nor do I care.  Nor should anyone care if you exclude the mediocre teams that somehow seem to pull off upsets in the conference tournaments and get automatic bids to the real tournament.

The conference post season tournaments automatically clutter an already controversial system trying to include the best 64 teams.  Here's an example: Let's suppose we all agree that Northern Iowa, (Missouri Valley Conference) with a very respectable 25-4 record and national ranking during the year deserves a shot in the real tournament.  The Panthers beat Boston College and Iowa handily this year.  In the conference tournament, what if they lose to Wichita State, Bradley or lowly Evansville as they did in the regular season? Does winning the conference lead  by a full three games get trumped by losing in the conference post-season tournament?  If not, suppose Evansville (9-20) wins that conference tournament.  This is not inconceviable since the Purple Aces beat both top teams in the MVC, Northern Iowa and Wichita State (23-8).  If Northern Iowa doesn't get dropped, Evansville is in as well and a team like Wake Forest (18-9) is suddenly out or at best, on the bubble.  Evansville would be run off the court by Wake Forest.

The RPI system, while flawed, isn't bad.  The post season conference tournaments with automatic bids is not rewarding the teams for playing a season well.  This is nothing more than a revenue initiative to suck more money out of fans and line the pockets of the NCAA and the basketball programs.

Enough already. 

March Madness

The word for March Madness this year is "parity."

There is no clear favorite to win the big dance this year and I think any of the top ten teams could win the NCAA basketball tournament .  Those I see to be the real contenders: Syracuse and Kansas.  I believe Syracuse is loaded with talent and Kansas is, well...Kansas.  Kentucky and Duke might tear down the nets, but both have struggled through some poor nights when they were beaten by inferior teams, i.e., South Carolina and Oklahoma St.  I wouldn't be surprised if top ten teams like Kansas St., Ohio St., and Purdue make early exits.  The two most overrated teams are certainly Villanova which is burning out at the wrong time and New Mexico which plays a soft schedule.  Most underrated team that could pull off the upset or at least serve as Cinderella?  West Virginia.  The Mountaineers are well balanced but young with three sophomores and one senior leading their team.

Michigan State?  Forget it.  The Spartans may end up in the sweet sixteen because Izzo is good enough to get them there.  Butler, Vanderbilt, BYU and Wisconsin are high on fundamentals and short on real athletes.  Bruce Pearl and Tennessee will go as far as Wayne Chism can lead them; look for an early exit or deep run.

In the end, it's all about brackets.  Right now, I would suggest Syracuse, Kansas and West Virginia to be the teams to beat.