Patterico's Pontifications

4/7/2014

Championship Game Open Thread

Filed under: General — Patterico @ 7:00 pm



Kentucky’s doing what they do best: getting themselves well behind in the first half.

40 Responses to “Championship Game Open Thread”

  1. This is painful to watch.

    Patterico (a0bb40)

  2. Kentucky off slow
    picking up the pace again
    real ‘cat and dog fight

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  3. While you watch:

    Shabazz Napier, point guard for The University of Connecticut’s men’s basketball team, recently told reporters he understands why athletes at Northwestern need a union, as he sometimes has to go to bed “starving” because he cannot afford food.
    “We as student athletes get utilized for what we do so well. We are definitely blessed to get a scholarship to our universities, but at the end of the day, that doesn’t cover everything. We do have hungry nights that we don’t have enough money to get food and sometimes money is needed,” the senior told reporters. “I think, you know, Northwestern has an idea, and we’ll see where it goes.”

    http://ctmirror.org/uconns-napier-on-altheletes-unionizing/

    elissa (b364f8)

  4. Kentucky’s only down 4 points at the half. UConn should be up by 10. I like UK’s chances.

    ropelight (c19f3f)

  5. yes, history has shown that the game doesn’t mean that much for Kentucky until the last 2 minutes.

    Note to UConn, if Kentucky is down by 3 points or less at the end, tackle (without a flagrant) the Harrison twins and make them shoot a one and one.

    MD in Philly (f9371b)

  6. elissa, I always take those sort of athlete sob-stories with a grain of salt. I read the book that the awful Mitch Albom wrote about Michigan’s “Fab Five” in the early 1990s, the Chris Webber, Jalen Rose, Juwan Howard, et al., team. He has an anecdote in there where he and Webber are in the school cafeteria at lunchtime. Webber grabs a couple of fish sandwiches for lunch, but when he comes to the cash register to pay he discovers he doesn’t have enough money to cover both sandwiches, so he reluctantly puts one back. Albom then juxtaposes that scene with an official Chris Webber jersey selling for $60 in the bookstore, with Webber receiving nothing by way of royalty. The obvious message there is how unfair it all is for the “student athlete.”

    And then a few years later we find out that Chris Webber was receiving over $250,000 under the table from Michigan boosters while playing in Ann Arbor. Ever since then I have largely discounted stories about the big time college athlete going to bed hungry. Maybe I’m not being fair, but I’m not going to be as naive as Mitch Albom was.

    JVW (9946b6)

  7. So what you’re saying, elissa, is the guy who’s getting a full ride to UConn can’t find the cafeteria?

    Steve57 (e3957b)

  8. I too doubt that an elite basketball program allows its stars to “go to bed starving”. Last week I posted that I thought with some certainty that the current football athletes at Northwestern will vote down the unionization vote later this month. But clearly the toothpaste is leaking out of the tube nationwide.

    elissa (b364f8)

  9. FWIW, if they want to unionize, let them start their own league, IMO.

    MD in Philly (f9371b)

  10. Poster dunk!

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  11. Going to bed hungry is code for “show me the money.”

    ropelight (c19f3f)

  12. Nothin’ from nothin’, but I still think one of the most exciting, well played basketball games I ever saw was the 1969 2A CIF Southern Section final between Verbum Dei High School and Katella High School of Anaheim, ca.. I think the final score ended up 90 – 87… got a chance to see one of the best guards who ever played… Raymond Lewis, who ended up leading the nation in scoring for two years while he attended Cal State LA.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  13. Why on earth do we think that an education at a university is somehow improved by a top-flight football or basketball team? Consider, for example, Caltech and MIT versus Kentucky and U. Conn. Caltech has (or used to have) a football team that competed in the NAIA, but MIT has no football team at all, other than intramurals. And their (MIT/Caltech) basketball teams are fielded for the benefit of the students, not the alumni. Not so for U. Conn. or Kentucky. Now compare the accomplishments of their alumni.

    Collegiate sports should be for the development of the student, not the egos of a bunch of infantile alumni. This is just another facet of the enormous problems that we need to address if we are to get beyond greed, envy, and community organizers. This is not to discount the benefit that individuals can receive from great coaching and athletic accomplishments. But recruiting six or seven iliterates who will opt out for pro contracts after one or two years of remedial English is not the road to the future.

    bobathome (b5db52)

  14. FWIW, if they want to unionize, let them start their own league, IMO.

    The problem with that idea is that the current infrastructure to support such a league — the stadiums and arenas, the TV contracts, the coaching and support staff — is already set-up with the college game. My idea is that each college would be allowed to have a certain number of athletes, maybe 12 in football and 4 in basketball, who are not required to be students and who can earn money via endorsements and professional contracts. Here’s an example how it would work: a school would have four basketball slots for non-students each year. The guys receiving them would have to be the same age as college students (17 to 23) and they can not have ever played in a professional league, but they wouldn’t have to go to class, they wouldn’t have the restriction on number of hours per week spent on the sport, and they could only play for a maximum of three years. The rest of the team would be traditional student athletes with the same rules that exist today. The school wouldn’t actually be paying the kid to play. Instead, the NBA could draft a kid right out of high school, give them a signing bonus, then park them at a school like Kentucky for a year or two to get them some seasoning. That kid could also do paid appearances or sign a shoe endorsement contract, or do whatever. That way me end the charade of the kid who wants nothing to do with college taking a bunch of dopey classes like “The Simpsons and TV Animation” with no intention of receiving a degree, but colleges wouldn’t miss out on the revenue that football and basketball brings in to the athletic program.

    JVW (9946b6)

  15. . . . MIT has no football team at all, other than intramurals.

    MIT plays Division III varsity football in the New England Football Conference. Actually, MIT has one of the largest varsity sports offerings in the entire country, albeit on the Division III level where athletic scholarships are prohibited.

    JVW (9946b6)

  16. I’m enjoying watching the whiny little prick Napier bitching at his teammates, while he makes mistake after mistake.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  17. But recruiting six or seven iliterates who will opt out for pro contracts after one or two years of remedial English is not the road to the future.

    Will one in a hundred of these kids make it into the pros? Will one in a thousand? What happens to the 99 or the 999?

    nk (dbc370)

  18. Turn out the lights, the party’s over.

    ropelight (c19f3f)

  19. I like Kevin Ollie. He’s a Los Angeles guy — Crenshaw High. Not sure how UCLA let him escape to Storrs.

    JVW (9946b6)

  20. Next up spelling bee.

    mg (31009b)

  21. JVW @13: Time has passed. When I was there, the intramural football program was the center of the universe for the frat boys. Grad student teams were not allowed to compete in the “top” division, although it was pretty obvious that the grad student teams would have dominated. The highest finishing undergrad team in the 2nd division (usually finishing 3rd or 4th) earned a berth in the top division. The rugby team was the were the real action was … we took NE in ’73 or thereabouts.

    bobathome (b5db52)

  22. When I went to college, we didn’t pay for our meals at the cafeteria. It was included in the payment for room and board. It appears that UConn works the same way. Except of course if you get a full athletic scholarship that normally includes room and board.

    http://colleges.niche.com/university-of-connecticut/campus-dining/

    UConn offers a wide selection of food at the dining locations on campus. All undergraduate students residing in non-apartment spaces are required to purchase a meal plan. There are three plans to choose from, ranging in price from $2,267 to $2,504. These give you unlimited access to dining halls and different amounts of flex passes and points (used to purchase items at other food locations on campus or to “flex in” friends to dining halls who don’t have plans).

    If he’s living in the dorms and has a full scholarship, he’s got an all-you-can-eat meal plan.

    If for some reason he’s not living in the dorms, and money is a problem, why would he do that?

    Steve57 (e3957b)

  23. My son, who is not an athlete, attends the University of Tulsa.

    Unfortunately, the University of Tulsa will join the former ACC next year in basketball competition against UCONN.

    On the plus side, he graduates in May and the Tulsa coach is Danny Manning. Go ‘Canes

    On the negative side, he is going to Texas A&M for graduate school.

    Hey, wait a second, that is a good thing. He somehow managed to use his good grades and personality to manage his way into the highly competitive Bush School of Government and Public Service. I think he will be studying in the Brent Scowcraft Institute of International Affairs.

    He did have to turn down acceptance at the University of Kentucky International Center and the University of Denver’s Josef Korbel School of International Studies.

    But, what do I know? I’m just an old country boy from East Texas. His mom has the details.

    Ag80 (eb6ffa)

  24. On the plus side, he graduates in May and the Tulsa coach is Danny Manning. Go ‘Canes.

    Unfortunately for them, the Canes just lost Danny Manning to Wake Forest. I think he’ll turn out to be a pretty quality coach.

    Congratulations to your son, who obviously has built up quite an impressive record to be admitted to so many fine graduate programs.

    JVW (9946b6)

  25. Free throws. Make all the free throws, win the game.

    Patterico (9c670f)

  26. Time has passed. When I was there, the intramural football program was the center of the universe for the frat boys. Grad student teams were not allowed to compete in the “top” division, although it was pretty obvious that the grad student teams would have dominated. The highest finishing undergrad team in the 2nd division (usually finishing 3rd or 4th) earned a berth in the top division. The rugby team was the were the real action was … we took NE in ’73 or thereabouts.

    Varsity football came back my freshman year, fall of 1988. I got to be there at the first game. We were actually featured in Sports Illustrated’s College Football preview issue in ’89 or ’90 along with the University of Chicago and a couple of other small schools where football took a backseat to academics. The rugby team was still really good in the late 80s and early 90s. We had some graduate students from other countries who were serious players and kind of served as ringers for the club team.

    JVW (9946b6)

  27. Oh well, Manning was a good coach at Tulsa, but I’m not surprised. Thanks for the update JVW.

    Ag80 (eb6ffa)

  28. JVW:

    Also for the kind words. I was not fishing for those of anything. Said the proud dad.

    Ag80 (eb6ffa)

  29. is tree hockey now over for the year?

    redc1c4 (abd49e)

  30. Huskies-
    10 for 10 from the foul line.
    Impressive, considering its the biggest game of the year.

    mg (31009b)

  31. As a family saving up for our son to go to college, upsetting that so many in the media pretend a free college education is nothing.This tax season I have again become familiar with the cost of several big time colleges.Fordham and NYU are now about $60,000, Penn State, Syracuse and St. Je’s little better,none of that includes room and board. Even the SUNY schools are creeping up to $12,000 before room and board.

    Federal student loan programs do very little but transfer the wealth of middle class parents to academics having coffee socials and Friday happy hours on leafy quadrangles who barely work at all. Another issue, another day.

    Further hockey and baseball players and their sports have no problem with turning professional at 17 or 18. The NBA already has a D league. If these players hva no business in the classroom they should not be on the court unless it’s as a professional.

    In fairness though one thing that the Northwestern suit has shown is the time required to be a D1 basketball or football player really does impact players’ academics negatively. Not sure how you get that toothpaste back in the tube because the TV money for more games is ridiculous.

    And my varsity footballer(who has the crazy idea he will play DL at ND or Oregon) wants to go to the Rose Bowl. ANyone got a line on tickets?

    Bugg (f0dbc7)

  32. Well Dana, by heritage I am for Kentucky over any team except Wisconsin, my alma mater. I thought I could sway my dad by saying if Kentucky didn’t win, maybe they would have more guys stay around for next year. Besides, Kentucky has been there enough, they could have shared with Wisconsin once…
    Assuming Cawley-Smith and Lee return next year, KY should have an awesome frontcourt even if no one else returns. Johnson, Cawley-Smith, and Lee will be an awesome front 3 if they all return.
    Wisconsin should have all the main players back except Bruist, and he should have been set up for the last shot if not Kaminisky as others pointed out.

    MD in Philly (f9371b)

  33. Cawley-Smith Cauley-Stein

    MD in Philly (f9371b)

  34. Dana, wait till next year.

    Bugg, either pay scalper price, or roll the dice and make a campaign contribution to the mayor of Pasadena.

    In the old days visiting Big 10 Rose Bowl teams stayed at the Huntington on South Oak Knoll, players got a few tickets each but their families couldn’t always make the trip. So, for the price of a few drinks at the bar locals could strike a mutually satisfying arrangement.

    Today, I’d confirm where the teams will be staying, make an advance reservation, and get in touch with the Concierge.

    ropelight (5d2732)

  35. Willie Cauley-Stein hinted that he’d be back for his junior year, which would be the right move for him: he’s not quite as talented as a couple of the others, and finished the season as a substitute. Alex Poythress isn’t NBA ready yet, either. Marquess Lee should be back for his sophomore year. The real questions are Julius Randle and the Harrison twins.

    The University of Kentucky alumnus Dana (3e4784)

  36. As talented as the Harrison twins are, they didn’t seem to me to have “the fire in the belly” of making the most of the moment. Maybe it’s just that they are focused and don’t show their emotion, maybe they viewed being at KY as just a pit stop along their route. IDK.
    Borg looked detached compared to McEnroe, but his intensity was no less.

    I don’t know if C-S isn’t as talented as that he just hasn’t played as much BB throughout life.

    MD in Philly (f9371b)

  37. Willie Cauley-Stein began the season as a starter, and lost his job to Dakari Johnson. Mr Cauley-Stein was the only true shot blocker on the team, but he had problems with just disappearing during games.

    I don’t know about the “fire in the belly” comment, but when the game was on the line, Aaron Harrison wanted the ball, wanted to be the man to take the shot. A real question is whether Andrew Harrison is really a true point guard; at times it seemed like UK had two shooting guards instead.

    The University of Kentucky alumnus Dana (3e4784)

  38. Wanting to take the shot when the game is on the line is different from working your tail off the entire game and being focused. Perhaps the KY success at the end of the game caught up with them, and they were not as concerned as they should have been when the other team was making runs. Perhaps they should have learned from the Florida game that catching up to UConn was a not a given.
    My understanding is that C-S played football in HS and probably didn’t eat and sleep BB as others. Unlike a lot of big men, he seems to have enough athletic ability to be more than just a tall guy that can intimidate in the middle.
    Make C-S play 1-on-1 with Lee every day once he gets healthy.

    MD in Philly (f9371b)

  39. Go Notre Dame.

    gary gulrud (e2cef3)


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