All I want for Christmas...
Some things work out, some don't.
Coach Roy Williams instructed Harrison Barnes to screen defender Gary Johnson in an attempt to draw a foul as Tyler Zeller tried to inbound the ball from the far baseline with 1.4 seconds to go. Johnson knocked Barnes down, but referee Les Jones, standing on the baseline, didn't bite.
"We ran a set play hoping we'd get a foul called, and it wasn't called, and that's part of the game," Williams said.
The Horns beat North Carolina.
Cory Joseph, the freshman guard, had often been deferential and tentative in his approach to basketball during his first 10 games as a Longhorn.
But he was a star Saturday on a hallowed stage. Joseph scored a season-high 21 points, the last two with 1.4 seconds left, to give the 22nd-ranked Longhorns a 78-76 victory over North Carolina in front of 20,787 fans in Greensboro Coliseum
This win wasn't necessarily pleasurable for Rick Barnes.
Fifteen years ago, Rick Barnes became a hero to everyone in the ABC crowd by standing up to North Carolina coaching legend Dean Smith during an ACC tournament game at Greensboro Coliseum.
Saturday, Barnes returned to the scene of his most infamous coaching moment and got a measure of revenge when his current team, Texas, beat the Tar Heels 78-76. But despite the circumstances and the surroundings, the Hickory native insisted that he got no special pleasure from the victory in his return to Greensboro.
"Honestly, from an emotional standpoint, it’s not what people might think," Barnes said. "Maybe it would be if I had ill feelings, but I don’t.
Slam Online has a Q&A with Jordan Hamilton.
Michigan State is up next. Spartan coach Tom Izzo will be in attendance this for this game.
The public will have to wait until his Monday news conference to hear what Tom Izzo thought about his Michigan State team's 90-51 rout of Prairie View A&M on Saturday at Breslin Center.
He watched it on TV from his home, serving the one-game suspension the NCAA handed down Friday for a secondary violation - employing a counselor at MSU's June basketball camp who had a relationship with a prospective MSU recruit.
If you like stats, The Only Colors has lots of stats on the Michigan State team. (If you want to know anything about Spartan sports, The Only Colors is the place.)
MSU sports reporter Joe Rexrode reviews the Spartan's last game.
Spartan Durrell Summers is considered one of the best leapers.
Durrell Summers, G, Michigan State - Coach Tom Izzo has been waiting for Summers to consistently play to his potential, but there's no doubting Summers' ability to get airborne. The Spartans run alley-oop plays for the 6-5 senior, who is averaging almost 15 points per game. He also provided one of the enduring highlights of the 2009 Final Four, leaping over Connecticut's Stanley Robinson in transition and throwing down an emphatic slam. "Durrell's play was definitely a freakish play," teammate Raymar Morgan said afterward. "He's a tremendous athlete, can jump out of the gym."
We have something in common. Texas fans hire planes to complain about being shafted, Spartans go get a billboard.
Disinformation
Be careful where you worship. You might end up drinking the koolaid.
Who the heck is Justin Wilcox? Justin Wilcox will be the new Texas DC. (This guy is available.)
All I need to say about this is...thank goodness.
Nick Saban is a smart man.
"A source close to the situation said something that is totally invalid," Saban said in mocking the reports. "Furthermore, they say 'nobody was available for comment' when nobody tried to get a comment. Nobody called. Nobody asked. Nobody said, 'Are you available?' Coach Saban wasn't available for comment? Nobody called or asked. How do you know I wasn't available? What is 'a source close'? When you ask me a question, I can't wait to answer one like that. I'll say, 'A source close said.'"
Note to Aggies: When talking about your coach and an award, find a better photo.
The Aggies are really excited about going to the Cotton Bowl. They even set up a blog. Whoop!
Aggie AD Bill Byrne is marketing again.
One of my goals since I arrived here has been to sell out Kyle Field in season tickets. I believe that goal is closer to becoming a reality than ever before. I’m excited to announce our new campaign to sell out Kyle Field for the 2011 season. Our marketing theme is "Are You Ready? Hell Yeah!" This phrase gained popularity with the 12th Man during Midnight Yell Practice prior to the Nebraska game when shouted by Coach Mike Sherman.
Les Miles is playing nice with the Aggies.
The Big Apple is just one big distraction.
If there is one thing Kansas State coach Bill Snyder can't stand, it's a distraction.
But eliminating the multitude of distractions that are sure to come with a trip to New York for the Pinstripe Bowl later this month might be even too daunting for Snyder to handle.
"I think the experience can be a very favorable experience," Snyder said this week. "It kind of depends on how we balance things. I think anyone traveling to New York City — it's easy to be intimidated if you haven't been there before. There is so much that surrounds you, in addition to really tall buildings. Very few of our youngsters have been there."
His last name is Stoops...What did you expect? The Pokes still haven't forgiven Arizona coach Mike Stoops.
Mike Gundy isn't in any rush to replace OC Dana Holgorsen.
Isn't it time that Nebraska stopped asking if Nebraska is actually back?
I smile as I type this...Fiesta Bowl = Sooner Disaster.
Let's relive some of those wonderful moments...
Basketball
Will Nebraska actually have a decent basketball team this year?
As Nebraska's football season winds to a close, Doc just might have something brewing in his corner of the kitchen. The Huskers won their seventh straight game Saturday night, a 72-42 decision against Eastern Washington, to improve to 9-2. NU has an excellent chance to finish its nonconference schedule 12-2, what with three cupcakes coming to town before the Big 12 opener Jan. 8 against Iowa State -- another good chance for a "W."
Would 13-2 snag your attention?
Thin is in.
Kansas State's Frank Martin has revived the Wildcat basketball program.
We never saw that one coming. BCS Executive Director Bill Hancock does not like Mark Cuban's idea.
As the number of bowls grow, the interest decreases.
Three down, thirty-two to go. So many bowl games, so little time.
And, unless you're a football junkie, so little interest in so many of them.
Right... We can't have a playoff because it would interfere with academics.
The bowl system has exploded from 18 games in 1996 to a record 35 games this season. As a result, the Buckeyes are one of an increasing number of bowl-bound teams with conflicts with academics, according to a review of academic schedules and interviews by The San Diego Union-Tribune.
Critics call it hypocrisy.
For the past two decades, the presidents and chancellors who govern major college football have opposed a postseason playoff format because they said it would conflict with the academics of student-athletes.
Instead, they’ve supported the expansion of the bowl-game system to the point that it’s increasingy cut into the most important academic studies of all -- final exams.
The bowl system works for everyone and every school makes money! Florida International sold less than 1,000 tickets to the Little Caesars Pizza Bowl. Fresno State gave most of their ticket allotment to the Humanitarian Bowl to charity. UConn may be on the hook for over 17,000 tickets so the school will probably lose money on the Fiesta Bowl.
TCU should be very careful what they wish for. It didn't work out so well for UConn.
Want to go to a bowl game? Submit you own price!
Schools should just say no to bowl ticket arrangements.
Something has to change. Schools have to say enough is enough. This system is broken and we can't do it anymore. But while athletic directors complain and complain, no one has stepped up.
Unlike professional sports teams, which have a ton of games to test if where they set their ticket price is egregiously off, bowl games only do this once a year. And although most of their prices are always too high, they rely on schools to bail them out.
Schools push to buy through them instead of the secondary sites. But the problem is most don't want to spend more money when they don't have to.
Just a lawsuit waiting to happen? Mike Leach may be employable after all.
Mike Leach is going to be the next head coach at Maryland, a key Big 12 source told Orangebloods.com.
The Mad Pirate resurfaces.
Well, maybe not just yet.
Just in case...Keep that criminal attorney's number in your speed dial. Will Muschamp is laying down the law at Florida.
New coach Will Muschamp will start composing his first Florida game plan soon. He already has a name for it.
The Florida Way.
It will have nothing to do with offensive and defensive schemes and strategy, or winning football games.
It will be a plan, and a code of conduct, that he will demand his players follow that is designed to make them stronger in the classroom and more accountable in the community.
The NCAA should send a message.
It's literally impossible.
You will never catch everybody.
In fact, you won't catch most people.
But when you do catch them you've got to start burying them and sending symbolic messages that serve as deterrents. Otherwise, you're sending an opposite message like the messages you sent over the past month -- first with Kansas basketball player Josh Selby, then with Newton. Against all odds, you caught both of them (or at least one of them and one of their family members) operating outside of the NCAA guidelines. You caught Selby accepting nearly $6,000 in extra benefits, and you caught Newton's father soliciting a payment for his son's services. Consequently, you suddenly had an opportunity to really make a statement. With proper guidelines in place, you could've ruled both high-profile athletes at high-profile schools permanently ineligible and showed the nation that such egregious behavior won't be tolerated. As it is, Selby, a nine-game suspension now over, will begin his season Saturday with the third-ranked Jayhawks while Newton, Heisman Trophy in hand, continues to prepare to lead the top-ranked Tigers into the BCS National Championship Game, and that can't possibly be the message you want to send.
It is very, very difficult to winterize a stadium.
Let's go bowling.
NewsOK's Berry Tramel ranks the bowl games.
Jones Top 10 has a preview, too.
I didn't know what I was getting into
But I popped Lincoln and Jackson, too
I didn't mind seeing them fade out of sight,
I just knew I'd have some fun last night
Whenever you in town and looking for a thrill
If Lincoln can't get it, Jackson sure willOn a greenback, greenback dollar bill
Just a little piece of paper, coated with chlorophyll-Ray Charles
If you played for Ray Charles, the set list changed every night. You had to know about 180 songs from his catalogue. The only difference between that and bowl season is that all of them were good.
Dennis Dodd reviews the bowl games just for his readers.
Bowls. Nobody said you had to like them all. There are 35 of the suckers now. That's 70 teams. They are so numerous that Kate Gosselin is interested in a new reality show. Some games deserve our interest. Some are so heinous they should be shot. Wait, maybe that's why there is a Military Bowl.
We kid because we love -- to watch 'round the clock football.
This is for all the trivia buffs out there. ESPN's Page 2 has obscure bowl facts.
Here's your weekly viewing schedule.
| St. Petersburg Bowl: Louisville vs. Southern Miss | 7:00 p.m. | ESPN (HD) |
| Las Vegas Bowl: Boise State vs. Utah | 7:00 p.m. | ESPN (HD) |
| Poinsettia Bowl: Navy vs. San Diego State | 7:00 p.m. | ESPN (HD) |
| Hawaii Bowl: Hawaii vs. Tulsa | 7:00 p.m. | ESPN (HD) |