The final weekend of February is over. It will be remembered around here as the weekend when that giant orb in the sky finally made its presence felt, sending thousands to Swayze Field to soak in some rays, drink up some suds (and maybe watch some baseball) in a respite from a harsh winter. It will also be remembered as the weekend Ole Miss' NCAA tournament hopes all but flat-lined and as the weekend Donte Moncrief became a millionaire. My thoughts on those topics and more from the weekend that was:
1. Break out the O'Douls and the leftover spam. Grab your sister and give her a big, wet kiss. Oh, yes, SEC basketball fans, March Madness is almost upon us and the SEC is going to freaking own the NIT.
Florida and Kentucky are headed to that other tournament in March, the one where Luther Vandross sings about one shining moment (Admit it: When the song starts and my man Luther sings, "The ball is tipped…," it starts to get a little dusty, doesn't it?) and people all over America fill out brackets and participate in office pools. But as many as seven --- 7! --- SEC teams are vying for that prestigious late-March trip to Madison Square Garden to play in front of a few thousand people and say, "We're No. 69!"
With two weeks left in the regular season and just 16 days until the SEC assembles in Atlanta for the conference tournament, seven SEC teams are 7-7 and tied for third place. That includes Ole Miss, which has now lost four games in a row to fall completely off the NCAA tournament bubble. That group includes Missouri, which lost at Alabama Saturday. CBS bracketologist Jerry Palm has the Tigers as an 11-seed in his latest bracket, but Mizzou's situation is precarious at best. It includes LSU, which lost in overtime at Kentucky Saturday. It includes Tennessee, which lost by three at Texas A&M, pouring more fuel on the already raging fire that is Cuonzo Martin's hotseat. It includes Arkansas, which snapped a 12-game losing streak at Humphrey Coliseum with a win over Mississippi State and enters this week as one of the last four teams outside the field of 68, according to Palm. And it includes Vanderbilt, which won at Auburn and might be the only team in this group that should be proud of its inclusion. The Commodores are using just seven scholarship players.
I'm not sure why the league is so mediocre this season. I'm not sure why there isn't more elite-level talent. Kentucky freshman Julius Randle is an NBA superstar in waiting. A couple of his teammates in Lexington have NBA futures. Florida has a team whose collective sum is better than the individual talents of its parts. Patric Young might play in the NBA, but he's hardly a collegiate star. Ole Miss' Marshall Henderson and Alabama's Trevor Releford could play in Europe. The list goes on.
I have my theory. With exceptions, of course, elite athletes in the South don't focus on basketball. There's too much pressure on them to play football. Had Russell Westbrook, a 6-foot-3, 200-pound freak of an athlete, grown up in Selma, Ala., or Minden, La., instead of Los Angeles, would he have been a point guard or a running back. My bet is on the latter. Had Kevin Love, a 6-foot-10, 243-pound power forward for the NBA's Minnesota Timberwolves, grown up in Hernando, Miss., instead of Santa Monica, Calif., would he be a 300-pound left tackle with exceptional feet instead of the nimble, powerful weapon that he is on the court today?
My guess is probably so. With exceptions, of course, the AAU programs in the South are far more corrupt than those in other parts of the country. Instead of being coached by people with a knowledge of fundamentals, they're coached by people who are essentially street agents. Except in Kentucky, it's not cool in the South to love basketball. The football culture is so pervasive. I suspect that will change over time, as more and more parents discourage their children from playing football as a reaction to more and more evidence of debilitating brain injuries suffered on the gridiron. For now, however, basketball in this part of the country is mediocre at best, and this season in the SEC bears that out.
2. Florida coach Billy Donovan was asked to break down Ole Miss following the Gators' 75-71 win over the Rebels Saturday at Tad Smith Coliseum. His diagnosis confirmed what many of us who have covered this team have been saying: The loss of Reginald Buckner and Murphy Holloway was simply too much to overcome.
Donovan said Kennedy has done an "amazing job" at Ole Miss, an opinion that is very widely shared, it should be noted.
"The problem in playing them a year ago was when you had Buckner and you had Holloway at the basket, you had two veteran guys who were seniors, who were physical, athletic and strong. When Henderson was running off screens, you really got into dilemmas because if you ran two guys at him, you really were vulnerable at the backboard to rebound with those guys. Now, I think Andy has some young guys in the frontcourt who are really going to need some time to develop. Because it's not like when you run at Henderson, you're throwing down to a guy that's just going to be able to go score.
"I think their frontcourt players have a chance to really develop and improve. I think (Dwight) Coleby is going to be a really good player but he's just a freshman right now. I think even (Aaron) Jones coming off last year's ACL (injury), he's going to get better. But I think when you lose two frontcourt players like that, that's probably hard to overcome a little bit. I've always been a huge (Jarvis) Summers fans. I think he's as good as any point guard in the country. He's really, really good in the lane. He's a great two-point shot-maker. His 3-point shooting has gotten better. They have two big-time players on the perimeter in Henderson and Summers. I also think Perez has gotten better. …You lose Buckner and Holloway and you're thrusting guys that didn't play primary roles a year ago and you're asking those guys to play at a ridiculously high level, and it's hard. It's really, really hard."
3. Perez filled the stat sheet on Saturday. The sophomore forward scored 10 points and grabbed three rebounds in 25 minutes, adding two assists and three steals. He also committed five turnovers, including one costly one on a fastbreak when the Rebels had a chance to extend a small lead late in the second half. Perez will be counted on heavily next season, and while Kennedy isn't ready to close the book on this season, he acknowledged as much Saturday afternoon.
"Here's a guy that didn't play very much as a freshman," Kennedy said. "He's starting to evolve into a guy that we're playing heavy minutes. We need him to produce, and I thought he had a couple of spurts and he made a couple of huge plays at the rim. He had five turnovers and he was going too fast. Those are things that hopefully experience will help him with."
4. Congratulations to Donte Moncrief. The former Ole Miss wide receiver ran a 4.35-second 40-yard dash Sunday at the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis. That time will make Moncrief millions. The NFL is all about size-speed ratios. Moncrief has a big, strong body, one that will serve as a big target for some fortunate NFL quarterback. Now he has proven he has the elite, breakaway speed to be a deep threat as well. Sunday was a remarkably fantastic day for Moncrief's career --- and his bank account.
5. Kain Colter, the former Northwestern quarterback and face of the first legitimate efforts to unionize college football, said college football is a job at last week's National Labor Relations Board hearing in Chicago. Northwestern players often worked 50-60 hours a week on football-related activities, Colter said.
Colter's yearly scholarship was worth approximately $60,000 per year, and that doesn't take into account ancillary benefits (medical care, meals, apparel, etc.)
This is the problem with the student-athletes' arguments that they should be paid. Colter didn't receive a W-2 in the mail seeking tax payment on that scholarship and those benefits. However, if Colter is successful in getting student-athletes unionized, his successor at Northwestern and elsewhere will likely receive that W-2.
As CBSSports.com's Jeremy Fowler wrote last week, schools would have their reasons to shun unionization. They don't want to pay unemployment insurance, workers compensation, disability insurance and pension plans, all elements that might be negotiated in collective bargaining. Maybe that's in play with driving tax agenda.
But as one high-ranking official says, the taxation issue 'isn't a scare tactic' from schools to dissuade the players. It's reality.
"If they are categorized as employees, I'm not sure the IRS cares much about the other circumstances," the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told CBSSports.com. "Everyone involved needs to understand what the various consequences are for both parties."
Sec. 117 of the "Current Internal Revenue Code," which essentially states that though a "qualified scholarship" is not considered gross income, that can change if the scholarship money "represents payment for teaching, research or other services by the student required as a condition for receiving the qualified scholarship or qualified tuition reduction."
In other words, if an employee is doing a job unrelated to his major as a condition of getting the scholarship, "those dollars will likely be fully taxable," Hannon said.
6. A federal judge said last week that the Ed O'Bannon lawsuit against the NCAA will not go away during summary judgment, setting the stage for a settlement or trial.
U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken reaffirmed the June 9 trial date for 19 days after initially expressing concerns whether it could be met, according to reports by USA Today Sports' Steve Berkowitz and SI.com's Stewart Mandel from the hearing in Oakland.
"It was not a good day for the NCAA and it was a very significant day for us," Michael Hausfeld, the O'Bannon plaintiffs' lead attorney, said in a phone interview with al.com after the hearing. "She questioned the whole concept of amateurism from automatic immunity for everything they do. She questioned whether competitive balance and the integration of athletics and academics are pro-competitive justifications."
In a statement released after the hearing, NCAA chief legal officer Donald Remy said: "We believe strongly in the merits of our case and will continue to defend the interests of the hundreds of thousands of student-athletes not recognized by the plaintiffs. For them and for all student-athletes, the current model of college sports provides opportunities for success during college and beyond. We believe the arguments presented show that the plaintiffs' claims are not supported by the facts or the law."
According to USA Today Sports, Wilken told both parties at one point, "If you want to compromise, I'm all for it -- because I won't be compromising."
7. The Rivals Camp Series began Saturday in New Orleans, marking the start of another recruiting campaign. Over the next few months, Rivals.com's personnel will evaluate thousands of players at stops all over the country, culminating with the Rivals.com Five-Star Challenge in Baltimore in June.
Rivals.com will make evaluation mistakes. That is certain. So will other news organizations that rank high school football prospects. However, the rankings are getting more and more accurate, and they are, as SBNation.com reported last week (linked at the bottom of this post), becoming more of a predictor of what teams will and will not compete for a title.
8. ESPN.com's Darren Rovell penned a fascinating story last week about the declining student attendance at college football games last season. Rovell led with an anecdote, referencing an Oregon-Arizona game last season in Tucson, one that saw less than 4,000 students in the 9,000-seat Arizona student section.
Arizona sold 10,376 student season tickets this year, Rovell reported, but 47.6 percent of those students, for an average game, didn't even show up. As Rovell wrote, "It's not just happening at Arizona. It's an issue everywhere. Despite the NCAA celebrating an overall attendance record due to an increased number of programs, crowds topped out at an average of 46,456 fans per game in 2008, with attendance for FBS schools dropping below 46,000 per game for the past five seasons. But even more alarming: In analyzing the demographics of the college football crowd, athletic directors and marketers alike have been most baffled by the student population.
"We have to solve this because we are talking about the season ticket-holders of tomorrow," Oklahoma athletic director Joe Castiglione told ESPN.com. "But interests and attitudes are changing so rapidly it's not easy to quickly identify what we need to do."
Oklahoma is in the midst of the longest sellout streak in history. Its 92-game streak has easily surpassed the stretch from 1971-1984 when the school sold out 69 consecutive games. Its stadium seats 10,000 more fans today than when that streak began.
Oklahoma sells more than 8,000 student season tickets each year, which represents roughly a third of its student population in Norman. The school gives students time to claim their tickets --- which come at a 76 percent discount to the regular price --- during the week leading up to a home game, and if they aren't claimed by that Friday, they go back into a pool and are sold to the general population.
The average number of students that showed up to its home games in Norman on Saturday this season was 5,752, meaning that, on average, 28 percent of the student tickets weren't used on gameday. The Sooners, Rovell noted, went 11-2, beating Alabama in the Sugar Bowl.
This year, the University of Michigan drew the most fans of any school for the 16th year in a row. But 26 percent of students who paid for their tickets didn't show up at an average home game this season. That's an increase from 25 percent last year and 21 percent in 2011.
Not only did Michigan have more no-shows, Rovell reported, but they also only sold 19,850 student season tickets, about a 10 percent drop from the year before. Michigan added a $7.50 fee to each ticket this season to support student programs and also took away senior reserved seating in favor of a general admission policy which contributed to fewer people buying tickets.
Hoping to slow the slide, Michigan sent out a questionnaire to students at season's end, asking them why they might not have been happy with the stadium experience.
Adam Stillman, a senior at Michigan who attended all but one of the team's home games this year, shared his answers with ESPN.com. How he prioritized his answers, Rovell wrote, might scare administrators, many of whom have looked to Wi-Fi connectivity as the answer to attracting younger fans. Stillman ranked sitting with friends, sitting close to the field, the outcome of the game, tailgating, the student section atmosphere, food specials and entertainment before the importance of Wi-Fi.
In an effort to better pin down reasons for no-shows, Rovell reported, the University of Tennessee keeps some of the most detailed data. Percentage of tickets scanned for each game is matched up against weather, kickoff time and which network the game is on. The conclusion? The highest percentage of tickets used in each of the last four seasons came at night games, including a 6 p.m. kickoff against Tennessee-Martin in Sept. 2010, which had only a 7 percent no-show rate, the best over the last four years of home games.
9. New NBA commissioner Adam Silver is a strong proponent of pushing the NBA's entrance requirement to 20 years old instead of 19, a move that would force more college players to spend two years chasing an NCAA title before going pro.
Miami's Michael Beasley recently told USA Today he sometimes wonders where his statistics might stack up if he had remained at Kansas State longer than his freshman year, when he averaged 26.2 points and 12.4 rebounds.
Beasley went pro after one season in Manahattan, a decision most expect Kansas' Andrew Wiggins and Joel Embiid, Duke's Jabari Parker and Kentucky's Randle to make after this season.
Asked if he had advice for the four freshmen ? and perhaps four other freshmen who could be lottery picks in June ? Beasley got to the heart of the dilemma for these talented teens.
"If I could tell them one thing, it would be, 'It's your life, it's what you make it,'" Beasley told USA TODAY Sports. "I think my only regret, and not just with college, is trying to make other people happy all of the time. If I could do everything over, I'd do it for me.
"I can't say I would have stayed another year. I grew up poor, dirt poor … Everybody is different. Me? If I came from a better financial situation, I could have been there two, three or four years."
Other thoughts from the weekend that was in the NBA:
A. It's no secret I cheer for the Oklahoma City Thunder and enjoy watching Kevin Durant play. However, in one game Thursday night in Oklahoma City, LeBron James clearly displayed that Durant hasn't passed him in the race to be the league's best player. The Thunder's Serge Ibaka inadvertently hit James in the face, breaking his nose and knocking him out of the final five minutes of the Heat's 20-point win as well as Sunday's date with Chicago. However, James has been dominant lately, and there is still plenty of season left for him to overtake Durant and win yet another MVP award. Further, the Heat are showing some signs of snapping out of a bit of a first-half malaise. Dwayne Wade looked healthy Thursday night in Oklahoma City, Chris Bosh remains the league's best third option and Miami is closing in on Indiana for the best record in the Eastern Conference.
B. Russell Westbrook returned on limited minutes Thursday against Miami. The Thunder is 0-2 since Westbrook's return, but his play hasn't been the reason. Instead, the Thunder, a team built on defense, has been awful on that end since the all-star break. Westbrook is rusty, and he's missing shots he'll likely make in a few weeks, but it's the Thunder's defensive lapses that are driving Scott Brooks crazy in the past week.
C. Former Denver Nuggets coach George Karl, now with ESPN, said he's heard rumors San Antonio star Tim Duncan will retire after this season. Duncan responded to the report, saying he would "like to know who he talked to. Dunno what I'm going to do. How does he know?" Not exactly a denial.
D. The Clippers, winners in Oklahoma City on Sunday, are going to add Glen "Big Baby" Davis this week, giving them some insurance behind DeAndre Jordan and Blake Griffin. Throw in the return of J.J. Reddick later this season and the Clippers remain very, very dangerous.
E. Speaking of dangerous, watch out for Houston. The Rockets have won eight of their last 10 games, pulled into third place in the West and are enjoying a renaissance season of sorts from center Dwight Howard.
F. With Davis going to the Clippers and not Brooklyn, center Jason Collins is headed to the Nets. Collins became the first openly gay player in the history of big-four professional sports, signed a 10-day deal with Brooklyn and made an appearance Sunday night against the Los Angeles Lakers. His return to the game --- Collins announced his homosexuality in April --- will make headlines and put the microscope on the Nets, a veteran-laden team fighting for a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. Personally, I'll be glad when this is no longer a story. Somebody had to be first, though, and Collins, who is a classy, cerebral guy, will handle the attention with aplomb.
10. I was going to dedicate this final thought to the Daytona 500. Seriously, I was, even though I despise NASCAR more than I can explain. However, the race was delayed and lasted forever, so I'll use this space for something else.
My son, Carson, learned how to ride a bike Sunday, a day after seeing friends ride their bikes and realizing he had to overcome a mental block of sorts to achieve the accomplishment for himself. Further, Carson wanted a Razor Scooter Spark, and there might have been a bit of bribery involved.
Regardless, seeing his happiness and self-pride when he rode his bike for the first time and the utter joy of getting the promised reward later in the day made for a fabulous end to a great weekend.
Ten Thoughts will be a couple of days late next week. Carson and I are headed to Oklahoma City Friday to see a couple of Thunder games (Grizzlies, Bobcats) and to have Breakfast with Rumble on Saturday. Carson is a mascot fan, and the Thunder's annual mascot mania game is Friday night at Chesapeake Energy Arena. We've got big plans --- bowling, the Lego Movie, an afternoon at Dave and Busters, pie at Pie Junkie, etc --- so thanks in advance for your understanding.
Have a great week.
This post was edited on 2/23 9:02 PM by Neal McCready
This post was edited on 2/23 9:32 PM by Neal McCready
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SBNation: Recruiting equals titles
