Brad stays at Butler

Butler extend a 12 year contract to their history book coach, Brad Stevens. It was rumored that Stevens had been in talks with the University of Oregon who had the potential to double or triple what Butler could offer. Stevens had also been linked to offers in the ACC from Clemson and Wake Forest.

After the intense championship game against Duke, coach Mike Krzyzewski recommended Stevens stay at Butler and stated "They also should pay him more."

With the amazing run that Butler had in this year's tournament Stevens has made quite a name for himself and put this little Indiana school on the map. Stevens is the youngest coach ever in the Final Four, save for "the General" Bob Knight. He is the 2nd youngest in a championship game. And he now holds the record for most winst in his first three years as a head coach surpassing legends like Jim Boeheim. Under Stevens, the Bulldogs (33-5) set school records for victories and consecutive wins (25).

Michael Roseberg of Sport Illustrated spoke to the potential of Stevens best writing "[Stevens] will be mentioned for every job that comes open, and quite a few jobs that don't come open. Schools without basketball teams will start programs so they can hire him. Towns without schools will open universities so they can have basketball teams so they can hire him."

Terms of the contract, which extends through the 2021-22 seasons were not divulged. It is anticipated that the total package is at least $1 million annually. Two years ago Steven's base salary was $395,000.

The next question is whether Butler's star player Hayward will be staying with Coach Stevens for his 3rd year of college basketball or entering the NBA draft. With the Stevens/Hayward combo the Bulldogs are projected to be ranked in the top 5 at the start of next season.

Photo of the Day: Perfection

At the half the Huskies had the worst half in UConn basketball history since the Auriemma era. The 2nd half the Huskies came back with one of their strongest runs to complete their 2nd flawless season. Before the game even ended the commentators had already put up the Huskies schedule for next season to see what the road to another perfect season would look like.

HATRED!

In less than 48 hours the men's and women's college basketball champions will be crowned. On the men's side there is a David vs Goliath match-up with the Duke Blue Devils facing the Butler Bulldogs. On the women's side there is the much anticipated rematch between #1 and #2 with the Uconn Huskies vs. the Stanford Cardinal. While the storylines are not the same, one thing is true, both finals contain a team that the country loves to hate.
From the time Coach K arrived on Duke's campus and the basketball team started winning games hatred towards the devils came from all directions. People hate them because they win too much, they get too many calls, they get all the media, and people just dont like them. As a former Duke hater myself, I must say what bothered me the most was their unbelievably irritating fans. Now that I have become one myself, I understand even more why people hate Duke so much, they are good, they know it, don't mind showing it and don't care who hates them. Coach K has even gone as far as saying he loves the fact that people hate Duke as it provides his team with more motivation. That is good for his team as on Monday the only people in the WORLD supporting Duke will be nestled in a small place called Durham, North Carolina.
Then there are the Uconn Huskies and their now 77 game winning streak. Why wouldn't anyone hate them, they havent lost a game in 2 YEARS. In those 77 games they have won on average by 30 points and have yet to have a team come within single digits. No one likes a bully that beats up on people smaller than them and never taking on a real challenge. But Uconn beats up on teams its on size, teams in the top 10. So who can they pick on? Right now that team is Stanford and on Tuesday everyone in the world will be cheering for them to bring down the wicked witch of the east. Lucky for the Huskies their coach also loves to be hated.

Photo of the Day: Bad News for Butler

West Virginia head coach Bob Huggins consoles forward Da'Sean Butler after he was injured during the second half against Duke in a men's NCAA Final Four semifinal college basketball game Saturday, April 3, 2010, in Indianapolis. It is reported that Butler suffered a torn ACL. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings)

All Americans

The first team All American team was released yesterday and really there are no surprises. The team was highlighted by 2 freshmen (guess what school they attended) 2 juniors and a senior. The individuals on the team separated themselves from the rest quite early in the season and others really struggled to catch up.

First Team
Demarcus Cousins
John Wall
Wesley Johnson
Scotty Reynolds
Evan Turner

Wall and Cousins are the first set of teammates to be All-Americans since Duke had two back in 2006. Evan turner was only 1 vote shy of being a unanimous decision. Scotty Reynolds beat out others on the second team despite being relatively worthless in the his teams last 5 games of the season.

2nd Team
James Anderson
Sherron Collins
Greivis Vasquez
John Scheyer
Da'Sean Butler

James Anderson finished 6th in voting, but received more votes than Cousins, however, due to position he was relegated to the second team. Vasquez and Scheyer battled for ACC player of the year but were both rewarded with 2nd team All-Americans. This year was also the first year Scheyer made any All team as he was earlier selected to the First-Team All-ACC. Of all the people on these lists Da'Sean Butler is the only player still in the tournament.

3rd Team
Greg Monroe
Cole Aldrich
Damion James
Luke Harangody
Darington Hobson

Photo of the Day: 3 Cheers for the Home Team

Butler Makes 1st Final Four Appearance in Front of a Home Crowd in Indianapolis

(Photo by Jed Jacobsohn/Getty Images / March 27, 2010)

Head coach Brad Stevens of the Butler Bulldogs celebrates with teammates after defeating the Kansas State Wildcats during the west regional final of the 2010 NCAA men's basketball tournament in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Underdogs or Underrated?

All the buzz this year around March Madness has been centered around the major upsets that have happened thus far and the effects that they have had on not only brackets but the increased enthusiasm and interest surrounding this already volatile tournament.

There are some teams that we just expect to be the best, conferences that we presume will dominate year after year, and traditional programs that have a long standing history of success in the month of March. But, the more that this year plays itself out the clearer it becomes that mid-major programs aren't as "mid" as we thought they were and the strength of conference argument that we so easily buy into isn't as strong as we thought either.

At first I was of the belief that it was merely a matter of the Any Given Sunday syndrome in which teams could have their one good day on the court and we would be able to see David vs. Goliath level triumphs. But as basketball has evolved its becoming clear that David has grown a bit and Goliath doesn't tower over him as much as he has in previous years.

The only question for me now is, does this year's madness make a case for or against a tournament expansion?

Bracket Busted.

Well I for one will probably think twice about doing a bracket next year. I mean is there even a point anymore? Was there ever? It might just be more fun to go without a bracket so I can root for the underdog in Ohio over Georgetown without being worried how that will affect my Sweet Sixteen. Not having a bracket might just make the tournament more enjoyable...

My, How the Mighty Have Fallen...

Well there's goes everybody's favorite pick to win the National Championship as Kansas goes down to a spiry Northern Iowa team. As Ali Farokhmanesh drained a three in the last minute, tilted his head back, and roared to the heavens, you could almost feel the landscape of the NCAA Tournament shifting under your feet.

Apparently the idea that there are a couple dominating conferences that were going to run all over the tournament were slightly over-exaggerated to say the least. The Pac-10 and the West Coast Conference have gone 6-0 going into today's games and after seeing the "inferior" talent in those bunches during the season, I don't think anyone predicted that. There were some who stated that no Pac-10 team should have been allowed in the tournament in the first place, and that the so-called "mid-major" conferences would eventually become overwhelmed by the level of talent of their more highly regarded foes. Guess that assumption was wrong...

And what happened to the supposed juggernauts in the Big East and Big 12. I mean I for one assumed (incorrectly) that once these scrappy, battle-tested Big East teams faced the rest of the nation, there would be no way that the other squads could match the play that was shown throughout the regular season. And I also made the assumption that Kansas's combination of talent and experience would just bully teams as they steamrolled their way to the Finals but that also was not meant to be.

Along the same lines, I don't know how any could continue the argument that there is nor parity in Men's college basketball as we have seen favorites like Georgetown, Kansas, and Villanova twice (as they could have easily lost to Robert Morris) get outplayed by supposedly weaker opponents. And I don't really buy the notion that this is just some sort of fluke because this is the principle that these one and done games are based upon.

Each of these games are the Superbowl for these teams, one loss and someone is watching the next game from their living room without a chance to bring the title back to their schools. You don't need to be better than the other team in terms of talent, you just need to outplay them in one game. And that's the magic that it March Madness. When the tournament expands (as it is probably going to after this year) we may have even more of these types of stories, and I for one cannot wait. For now I'll turn my support to Kentucky as it seems that they are the real deal with blowout wins in their first two games, but as we have seen through the first few days of the tournament, you never know.

P.S. Can someone tell me how Texas went from number one in the nation to getting bounced out the first round by another underachiever in Wake Forrest... just asking.

So the Big East isn't "packing"

All this talk about the Big East this and the Big East that and what have we seen from them today, maybe mid-major basketball at best. As mentioned before Georgetown was handled by Ohio. Side note about Ohio, they went 7-9 in their conference. Georgetown just made it to the Big East Championship game. Looks like I should not place such a high value on the big east tournament and instead should give more credit to MAC.
Then there was Notre Dame, who all week had to listen to people warn them about the challenge that was ODU. (SHOUT OUT TO ODU THE HOMETOWN TEAM) What happened, Notre Dame's best player had 4 pts (All worthless and within the last minute of the game).
Then sharpshooting Marquette lost to Washington. Now I love the Pac 10, because I went to Stanford, but Washington! This team won its conference tournament and was still an 11 seed (mid-major territory).
And even though they didn't lose Villanova should be the most embarrassed. OT versus a Robert Morris team that to be honest should have beaten them. Maybe its time for the Big East to change its name to the Little East. I will give them another shot tomorrow with WVU, Pitt, Syracuse (minus Onuaku), and Louisville, but I have very little confidence in them.

Dear NCAA- I'm Done With You

So I am officially throwing away my entire bracket. After a hours of scratching my head and trying to come up with a quality bracket based on what I THOUGHT were solid well-rounded teams, the first day of March Madness has me standing looking at my TV thinking what the fluff just happened here.

Now, I'm all for the underdog and live by the Any Given Sunday mentality, but I also like winning and right now that's looking highly unlikely.

If case you were sleeping under a rock, let's recap the tomfoolery that happened on the hardwood tonight.

• Murray State (13) beat Vanderbilt(4) with a buzzer beater
• Villanova (2) squeaks by Robert Morris (15) in overtime
• BYU (7) and Florida (10) go into double overtime with BYU coming out on to

And the one that has really shocked many college basketball fanatics

• Ohio (14) soundly and succinctly laid the smack down on a dumbfounded Georgetown (3) with a 97 - 83 victory. At one point they even had a 19 point lead over the Hoyos.

Now I'm sitting her watching Washington (11) vs. Marquette game (6) and I honestly have no idea how this is going to turn out with 5 minutes left on the clock. And even if I had a prediction I wouldn't speak it into existence because it would probably be wrong. So thank you NCAA for reminding me of all the reason why I hate to love and love to hate March Madness.

Not Making the Grade: Declining Graduation Rates in College Basketball

Sometimes it is hard to remember, especially in the thrill of March Madness, that we are not only watching basketball players, we are watching student-athletes. Only a small percentage of these people will actually make it into the NBA, its probably more important for people to focus on the ones that don't.

Richard Lapchick recently wrote an article outlining the disparity between women's and men's college basketball teams' graduation rates as well as the more startling disparity between the graduation rates of Whites and Blacks college basketball athletes. It seems that the priorities of both the coaches and the administrators that handle these men and women are not properly focused toward the right goals.

A link to Henry Abbott's article commenting on the issue for True Hoop is provided here and to see the original article about the research done by Richard Lapchick, you can go here.

Pope Thrown Out For Low Blow..

Sorry, its a slow news day and frankly this was a funny headline...(Sporting News)

Think Conference Tournaments Don't Mean Much...

People have talked a lot about how conference tournaments don't matter. If they watched any of the games this week, I believe they will change their minds. In each tournament every champion at some point had to claw, scratch and fight their way to the title. In the Big East, West Virginia went to the last second in each of their 3 games. Their best player Butler to travel to get the last shot off against Georgetown. Even more shocking WVU coach Bobby Huggins was damn near in tears after the victory! Tell me that title didn't mean something to that man. In the Big Ten, POTY Evan Turner had to hit a 40 footer then in the next game survive double overtime with his team on his back to win the title. Ask him if he would rather be well rested for the big dance or be a Big Ten title holder. If you are reading this blog I am sure that you saw Demarcus Cousins' last second tap in to send Kentucky to overtime against MSU in the SEC championship game. And the MASSIVE celebration that followed OMG you would have thought the game was over. This celebration from a team picked to possibly win the national championship! Finally the Duke Blue Devils and the ACC Tournament. In a tournament where every other team within the top 5 of the conference was at home, Coach K was as fired up as ever before. Duke has actually won 9 of the last 12 ACC tournaments. O and did I mention that overall number 1 seed in the NCAA tournament Kansas took care of business in the Big 12 title game beating Kansas State 3 times in one year! And you say it doesn't matter, that my friends is a laugher

Breaking News: ACC top Seeds Missing

2, 3, AND 4 are all out of the ACC Tournament. If it were not for the Duke Blue Devils and the PAC 10 Tournament the ACC tournament would be the least cared about tournament this post season.

Number 1 seeded Duke was able to hold off a valiant effort by a Landesbergless UVA team with the help of a clutch second half from Kyle Singler. For much of the game, however, the Blue Devils were sloppy and looked as if they would be leaving Greensboro empty handed. But in the tournament all that matters is surviving and advancing and that is exactly what Duke was able to do unlike the others.

Second seeded Maryland and their unruly fans can now return to College Park as the Terrapins lost to the 7th seeded Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets. GT was in desperate need of that victory in order to remove themselves from the bubble and put them into tournament. ACC Player of the Year (cough wrong decision) Vasquez had an atrocious game and was fittingly stripped of the ball as he went for the game tying three pointer.

Third seeded Florida State did not play much better than Maryland and because of that they went down to NC State. NC State the 11th seed won only 5 games during all of the ACC regular season, but has now won back to back games ACC games. After this HORRIBLE loss Florida State is now going to have to take a seat back on the bubble. Worst of all, us tourney viewers must now see that God awful red jacket of Sidney Lowe again.

Finally, fourth seeded Virginia Tech collapsed late in their game. As a Virginian I hoped for a much better performance out of the Hokies, but it was not to be as they lost to 12th seeded Miami for the second time this season. Now the perennial bubble team will have to sit and wait once again to find out their tournament fate.

Tomorrow's Semifinals

1 Duke vs 12 Miami and 7 Georgia Tech vs 11 N.C. State

Lucky for scalpers they still have 2 state schools in the field or else they would be taking an L on those tickets.

A Merciful End to the Season for the Legends

Conference Tournaments are far from over and Selection Sunday is more than 36 hours away, yet for some LEGENDARY programs the season has come to an end. What programs am I speaking of you ask? The University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill Tarheels, The University of Arizona Wildcats, the University of California Los Angeles Bruins and the Indiana University Hoosiers.

UNC - For UNC, the season started with very high expectations and wins over some top programs (i.e. Michigan State and Ohio State) had people claiming that the tarheels had reloaded and would find themselves back in the Final Four. However, the Tarheels finished the season losing 13 of their last 18 games to finish the season 16-16. One of those losses was an astounding 32 point loss to Duke that was UNC's second worst loss ever to Duke.

Arizona - Arizona has struggled a ton over the last 5 years. Coaching issues have caused many of their problems. The departure of legendary coach Lute Olsen and the drama that followed could not have helped recruiting. While the Wildcats were able to finish the PAC-10 season above .500, in a down year that doesn't mean much. What does matter is their 16-15 final record on the season.

UCLA - The Bruins ended last season escaping a last second shot by the VCU rams. If they played this year the Rams would probably run away with that contest. The season ended with the Bruins finishing 14-18, losers of 7 of their last 10. To be honest I am not really sure what is going on with them, but I will say that they are having another rebuilding stage.

Indiana - Lord have mercy on that program. Indiana has been up and down since Bob Knight was at the helm. One year they somehow made it to the NCAA Final versus Maryland. When Kelvin Sampson took over the job, it looked like their savior had arrived and they would make regular trips to the final four. Little did we know many NCAA violations would soon follow. In the last 2 seasons the Hoosiers have been able to muster 16 wins. This season ending better than the last with a 10-21 final record. Once the sanctions are removed Indiana is sure to bounce back... or at least we hope.

One thing this season has taught us is that while being at the top is tough, remaining at the top is even tougher.

Let me introduce you to the POTY Evan Turner

All year in college basketball the focus has been on John Wall. As a Kentucky fan I must say he has lived up to the expectations. HOWEVER, there is this other guy that has been ballin this year and if you are only a casual college basketball viewer you have probably missed out. His name is Evan Turner. Don't know who he is, check out ESPN tonight you may see his 40 foot buzzer beater about 20 or 30 times tonight.

Those of us that are die hard college watchers knew that he was the truth earlier in the year. He averaged nearly 20 points per game in the first month of the season. Then coming down from a dunk he fell and fractured bones in his back (aka he broke his back!). Luckily, Evan was able to recover and return 1 month earlier than expected. If that wasn't enough for you? Well just games after returning, he put Ohio State on his back and dropped 32 points against a Purdue team that was in the top 3 in the nation.

Since returning OSU has only lost 3 of its last 18 games and won the Big Ten regular season. Compare that to the 3 losses in 6 games that Evan Turner sat out. For you that think that I am just drinking the cool-aid, let me tell you that I am a HUGE Michigan football fan so for me to give a Buckeye credit means A LOT. Just in case you thought I lied in the title of this article you should know Evan Turner has already won the Big Ten Player of the year as well as the Sporting News player of the Year and SHOULD and hopefully will win every other player of the year award.

Do You Hear that?... It's the Sound of Bubbles Bursting

First off, shout out to the STANFORD CARDINAL (and Emmanuel with a career high) for beating number 2 seed Arizona State in the PAC 10 tournament and most likely killing ASU's NCAA hopes. They should not feel alone, however, as a number of other teams saw their dreams come to an end. Wake Forest was DESTROYED by a less than stellar Miami team and can now prepare for the NIT. Memphis dropped from its perch as Conference USA royalty and most likely out of the tournament after losing to bottom dweller Houston. Clemson also fell to NC State and their horribly clad coach and have tanked to finish the season once again. And as sad as it was for everyone to watch Cincinati's hopes of making the tournament dribbled out of bounds when Dixon fumbled the ball and Butler put in a 3 pointer off the glass as the clock expired.

Big East Tournament Upset Alert!

THE CURSE OF THE DOUBLE BYE

Former number 1 team Syracuse has now lost 2 in a row for the first time all year. After losing to Louisville in their stadiums final game the Cuse followed that performance up with a lost to spirited Georgetown team. If you missed this game because of work you need to be on ESPN 360. A 19-2 run in the second half helped Georgetown get back in the game and take a lead. Have teams found the vulnerability in the Cuse 2-3 zone and their short bench (Only play 7 players). Did I mention Onuaku went down with a knee injury. This could spell trouble. As I hype this up as a huge upset I must remind people that Georgetown is the number 22 team in the country and has beaten a number of good teams including a blowout of Duke in DC.

Just now Number 4 seed Villanova also bit the dust. Top seeds are falling like flies in the qtr finals of the big east tournament. Georgetown and Marquette in the first Big East Semi-Final tomorrow night. Not many people saw that one coming.

The dream matchups that people have been waiting for all weej are not going to happen. Number 15 and number 3 seed Pitt becoming the third top seeded victim of the day falling to Notre Dame. Notre Dame is now off the bubble and the Big East tournament is now shot. Georgetown, Marquette and Notre Dame have crashed the party. Maybe the double bye is cursed. In the last 2 years teams with double byes have gone 2-5. I would be surprised to see it make another appearance next year.

Only number 2 seed WVU has a chance to make it through.

GTHC (Go To Hell Carolina)

As a Dukie, Go to Hell Carolina Go to Hell is a chant that you say at almost ever sporting event and this Saturday when Duke beat UNC by 32 points was no different. As the Cameron Crazies chanted this feverishly, I asked myself, are they already there? Just one year after winning the national championship the UNC tarheels are the 10th seed in the ACC tournament (a weak conference this year) and are holding onto hopes of making the NIT. If they were to lose in the first round of the ACC tournament they would finish the season at .500. So you be the judge.