Man, even I find this a little dirty

So, if you haven’t seen the story Josh Selby, let me give you a little bit of background here…

Josh Selby was Tennessee’s prize basketball recruit.  The proverbial crown jewel of the class.  Selby’s a consensus top 10 national recruit, and he committed to UTenn back in September of last year. Now all of the sudden, after attending a basketball camp with his mother, Selby has decommitted to UTenn and is now looking at Kentucky and Oregon.

Now, given the landscape of recruiting in 2009, the commitment/decommitment rituals of the high school student are nothing to be surprised at.  Shit, when I was 17/18, I was emo-confused about what I was going to eat for dinner.  So, why is Selby’s case so special?

Hint Number 1: Tennessee is an Adidas school
Hint Number 2: Kentucky and Oregon are Nike schools
Hint Number 3: The camp that Selby attended was a Nike camp

See where this is going? 

The man at the center of this controversy is a man named William Wesley.  Name ring a bell?  How’s about his nickname, “Worldwide Wes”?   His Wikipedia page...

See, no one knows how or what the hell purpose Wes has, but he’s always at the center of these things.

So, to recap:

1) Selby recruits to Tennessee, an Adidas school
2) Selby attends a Nike camp with his mother
3) Mother chats with William Wesley, noted Nike shill and good friend of John Calipari (now coach at Kentucky. Former coach at Memphis where both of Selby’s cousins play)
4) Selby de-commits from Tennessee and now is interested in Kentucky.

The NCAA seems sit on a pretty high perch when it comes to slapping people with recruiting restrictions…loopholes sure are fun.

Are you ready for a Packer-less tourney?

For the first time in my lifetime, I’m going to watch the NCAA tournament without the condescending and sour tones of one, Billy Packer.

A lot of people hate Billy Packer because he was never happy. Remember how pissed he got a mid-majors winning games? I think the world is chock full of happy people. Oprah, Jim Nantz, Terry Bradshaw, Big. Why can’t we have the signature voice of the tournament call it anymore?

The thing is, Billy Packer was very smart about the game of basketball, and isn’t that what we’re really looking for in a color guy? The PBP man tells you what’s happening, and the color guy tells you why it’s happening.

Top of your head, what color guys in college basketball actually do a good job of breaking down the game as it happens? Bilas? Knight? (If you said Vitale, you’re an idiot.)

Anyway, Clark Kellogg is going to be the replacement for Packer now, and all I have to say is, okay. Kellogg is, ironically enough, like corn flakes. He’s just there. He' doesn’t have any flavor, he doesn’t have any taste, he just commentates.

Can’t we promote Gus to the number one spot?

(SIDE NOTE: I’m using Windows Live Writer to post to the blog site now, so if this doesn’t go through properly, it’s Bill Gates' fault)

Interesting concept...make sure you ask the protesters to avoid trampling your rose bushes

She's showing tenacity, but who's watching?

I don't really consider myself to be chauvinistic or uncaring towards women. Stop laughing, I'm being serious. In fact, I'd say I'm completely balanced in my views towards women's rights, that I treat them with the same unbiased cynicism and mock hatred that I treat my own gender.

That being said, I came across this article by Bob Keisser and nodded my head and then realized this guy is going to get his ass handed to him by Title IX proponents.

If you didn't bother to click the link, he's basically saying that universities need to drop women's basketball from their athletic programs because it is the single largest money drain on campus, and in these times, it's the equivalent of lending money to a crack head.

"Gender equity proponents expressed little sympathy over these losses. Football and its scholarship needs was the main target when Title IX was born and the subsequent Cal NOW suit creamed CSU schools. There was and is a valid legal point about equal opportunity and spending of public revenue, and they made it.

My point is that women's basketball is a complete money-losing proposition for virtually any university. If it made financial sense for universities without the resources of USC or UCLA to drop football, shouldn't a sport that blows millions annually from coast to coast be judged in the same way?"

He makes a good point. How many programs can you name in women's basketball that draw even close to break even attendance? UConn and Tennessee, right? Exactly. Tickets are the revenue source, and if you're only making maybe $100K OVER THE SEASON, how are you paying for the coaches and scholarships? You're taking a loss.

See? I'm making that argument without bringing up the fact that the quality of play and entertainment value is rates about a 1 on a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being 7th game overtime of a Stanley Cup final.

Look, I get it. Title XI and social mores have determined that for every men's sports, there should be an equal and opportunistic university sponsored sport for females. That makes perfect sense to me socially, but not financially. If women's basketball is operating at a loss, why not choose a sport that is just as entertaining (if not more so) but requires less investment?

H/T: Sports By Brooks

What happened to Gerry McNamara?

Glow little glow worm. Glimmer. Glimmer.

Big and I have had a running bit since 2006 where we, at some point in March, will ask each other, "whatever happened to Gerry McNamara?"

If that name sounds somewhat familiar to you, McNamara was the greatest white player on Carmelo Anthony's Syracuse team. Difference was, McNamara played every game of his entire 4 year career a Syracuse. He was the Jason White of Syracuse, he kept coming back.

However, he apparently graduated and Vent About Sports managed to profile what happened to the Syracuse Wunderkind.

In December of 2006 he signed with the Baskersfield Jam of the NBDL where he played the rest of the season averaging 10.8 points and 5.2 assists per game, and was named to the NBDL West all-star team. In 2007 he played with the 76ers in the Summer League but once again he was not signed. In August of 2007 he signed a $400,000 contract with the Greek team Panionios BC. He was released after only 4 games and scoring 7 points.

Oof. I hope Melo is throwing some cash his way.

To make him feel just a little bit better, I'd like to announce the induction of the newest member of The Big and The Brown Hall of Fame....GERRY MCNAMARA!!!!

Are you guys doing a bracket this year?

I'm sure we are going to do one of those free sign up things on CBS or ESPN.

Big usually handles that, and we're all waiting on him to come back.

I hate to admit it, but it's true

My reaction these days...

I can't watch college basketball anymore, and the weird part is, I really don't know why. I used to watch college basketball, pretty religiously in fact. I could name off RPI's and bubble teams and who I thought could legitimately contend in the tournment.

See, last weekend Big and I got into a debate with one of our friends over who was the class of the Big XII. Immediately our argument was that Kansas was the top of the pop, and everyone else was trying to live up to Kansas. The other guy's argument? Kansas was now sharing the upper echelon with Texas and Oklahoma. Let's recap: I was saying that Texas wasn't that good.

That's when it dawned on me. I haven't really paid much attention at all to college basketball to make that argument. Sure, I had history on my side for the basic concepts, but now a days, I could really care less.

Are the games any less compelling then they were before? I can't say for sure, but I doubt it.

Are the players and teams less sexy than before? Maybe. I mean, you hear about a real rock star player and you realize that if he's THAT good, then he's going to be a pro the next year anyway, so why bother? Anyone who's staying in school is bound to be the next Redick, Laettner or Dunleavy Jr. and just kind of "meh" you to death.

I tried to sit down the other day and just veg out and watch a Saturday's worth of college basketball. You know what I ended up doing instead? Cleaning my house. It's a pretty sad state of affairs when I'd rather Swiffer then watch basketball.

I could watch the Kings play the Thunder if it's on, but I have trouble paying attention to Pitt and Georgetown face off. What bothers me is, I couldn't tell you why.

Ever wonder what happed to Quin Snyder?

Check out this great article on ESPN Page 2

Before this goes any further, let it be noted that in several corners of the basketball universe, the words of Quin Snyder are deemed slightly less believable than a Keanu Reeves monologue. Many consider Snyder, a former Duke standout who helped the Blue Devils to three Final Fours between 1986 and 1989, to be a fast-talking, slick-moving huckster who is more used car salesman than basketball coach. They say he wants back in the big time and is using this job to angle in on a Spurs assistant coaching position (The Toros are affiliated with San Antonio). They say he's stuck in Austin and merely making the best of a heinous situation. They say -- quite frankly -- that he's full of it.

If you're Bill Self, what do you do?

Pretend you're Bill Self. You've just won a National Championship at one of the bastions of college hoops, Kansas. You're being lauded as the best coach in the country (remember, that used to be Billy Donovan's title). This after being doubted and "eye-rolled" at since taking the reigns from Roy Williams. (Side note: If you're last name is Williams, stop naming your sons "Roy" or forms of "Roy". There are too god damn many of them.)

Now, your alma mater, Oklahoma State is reportedly preparing to offer you a $10 million a year contract to come home and coach the basketball team in Stillwater. By the way, you're currently making, I believe, somewhere between $2 - $3 million a year.

What's the breakdown?

Kansas

• You've already got a National Championship and you've therefore raised expectations to be an annual contender
• Anything less than Final Four is considered "failure"
• Easily the most svelt of coaches on campus
• One of the "legacy" jobs in the country
• Easy job of recruiting
• Lawrence is pretty much a suburb of Kansas City

Oklahoma State

• Expected to return the team to prominence - they were in the Final Four twice during those John Lucas III years a few years ago.
• You've got NBA money without the true pressures of the NBA
• Not a basketball school anymore
• You're legacy to follow is Eddie Sutton
• Did I mention $10 million a year?
• It's your alma mater
• Tougher time recruiting
• Stillwater is a suburb of...Choctaw Casino?

I dunno what I'd do. I think both cases are pretty compelling. It's not like he's hurting for money, but $7 million a year is a shit load of money. The pressure is less at Oklahoma State, but it still exists. Kansas would be easier to reach success. If I was coaching at, say, Kentucky and I won the national championship, and then Texas calls me and says they want me to take over for Rick Barnes for a shit load of money, I'd probably say yes.


What would you do?


UPDATE: Thanks to Dorsey, I was informed that I got the numbers waay off. I think I was reading the "total contract" number versus the year-by-year figures.

Back, Bigger, and Full of it.

I would like to apologize for the past few days, Brown is off in Hawaii for work, i don't even know if the somas even know what a computer is, and I have been taking care of business with my family over the past few days, so sorry for the lack of posts over the past few.

Well, I'm back bitch.

To start off this short week lets quick hit some big stuff.

NBA

Number one, Dunk contest. Best I've seen in years. Birthday cake was greatness, Gay's off the suport beam was highly under rated, and Dwight Howard. Damn. If you didn't see it, here is an abridged verson.



Talking about Howards Superman Dunk, he said in an interview with hoopsworld, He said he "ment to throw the dunk in," because only superman could do that. Well done sir. Lets just hope he doesn't get into horse ridding. Too Soon?

Jason Kidd is finally a mav, more about that later today.

College Hoops

Kelvin Sampson, looks like you got your hair cut off. Look if you sleep with a snake, your going to get bit. The same shit that he did in Oklahoma, he did with Indiana, and now one of the better teams in the Big 10 may be suspended by the NCAA.

In a game that I'm sure made Brown smile, Texas Beat Texas A&M by a bunch, and Baylor lost to Oklahoma. Texas is now in my big 6, that the 6 teams that I think have a shot at winning the Dance this year. More on that later in the day or tomorrow as well.

MMA

I enjoy MMA, but I don't follow it like some of my friends. I did here this rumor that UFC might sign Kimbo Slice, so that they can fight him against Brock Lesner. I would pay for that.

NASCAR

Randy Newman, came from nowhere and proved not only does he "love LA," but he loves winning at Daytona as well. Didn't know the great song writer from all the Pixar movies was into racing? What ever floats your boat i guess.

***Correction, Its Ryan Newman that won, not singer song writer Randy*****

I hope that catches some people up. More to come today.