Government wasting time with BCS

Sen. Orrin Hatch (R) – Utah is the man you may know best as the senator who is trying to persuade the U.S. Government to take legal action against the BCS – the system used to determine college football’s national champion.  You may also be interested to know that the Justice Department is now looking into whether the system violates antitrust laws.

Ridiculous, I know.

First of all, let me give you some information about Hatch.  He’s a Utah state Senator.  Hmm…I do remember a college football team that went 13-0 just last year but didn’t play in the BCS National Championship game.  Hatch couldn’t possibly be lobbying on behalf of his own state’s university, could he?

Actually, yes.

I bet you don’t know that Hatch has done this before.  The IRS mistakenly released a confidential tax filing showing that pharmaceutical companies and the pharmaceutical industry’s lobbying group wrote $172,500 in checks to the Utah Families Foundation.  What is the Utah Families Foundation, you ask?  It’s the charity that Hatch helped start, and the same charity that has filed taxes illegally for almost 10 years, according to the Washington Times.

Oops.

Now is an appropriate time to also point out that the industries main lobbying group also paid Hatch’s son Scott to be its lobbyist in Washington D.C.

Now, it appears as though Hatch wants money again – this time on behalf of the University of Utah.  After all, he didn’t speak up when Boise State went undefeated in 2006, or when Hawaii ran the table in 2007, or when TCU, Cincinnati and Boise State were perfect in 2009.  But as long as Utah can grab a few extra bucks, it’s all good.

Sounds like an honest guy to me.

But for those of us who like the BCS system, we need not worry.  Hatch will probably be supporting the system by the end of the week.  That is, if his actions are anything like his stance on polygamy, where he first supported polygamists, then was later on record condoning it. He flip-flopped on the issue.  I call that the “classic John Kerry move.”

So if all of you hopeless playoff optimists want to trust this guy to bring a “December/January/in general” Madness to college football, go ahead.  I’ll continue to have my doubts.

So now the Justice Department wants to see if the system violates antitrust laws.  Well, as far as I can tell, there is competition.  Some competition (the SEC), is just worlds better than other competition (Mountain West, WAC).

Hey Justice Department – I have a law you can investigate.  How about the “we’re only undefeated because Tulsa dropped a wide open pass” law.  Or the “we know we have a week conference schedule, but we still schedule division 1-AA teams to come play us at home, then only beat them by 18 points” law.  Oh, and look into the “we gave up 35 points against Louisiana Tech, 34 against Fresno State and 33 against Nevada, but we know we could hold Florida, Alabama and Texas to single digits” law.  Yes, I’m talking about the 2009 Boise State team, the only other unbeaten team besides Alabama.

The key for these teams is scheduling four very difficult games out of conference, knowing you should get eight wins in the conference.  Then maybe they’ll have a chance to play for a championship.  A lack of antitrust laws didn’t keep the Broncos, Warriors, Bearcats, Horned Frogs or anyone else from reaching the title game.  Poor scheduling, and poor play even in some of the wins kept them out.

If you’re happy with the Justice Department looking into this, then you must not care about the war that Obama refuses to get us out of, the bailout that is putting the country further in debt or the inevitable tax increases to come.  If this is such a serious issue, then why hasn’t it already been addressed?  If the BCS was illegal, it could not have possibly lasted this long.

Does the regular season mean anything?  According to Hatch, the answer is no.  A playoff system likely means 9-3 teams have a chance to win it all.  And how would the seeds be determined?  I’m guessing they would use…ah…the BCS rankings.  I can see it now: the playoff system takes the teams ranked 1-8, then a senator from the state the school ranked #9 is from writes a letter to Congress saying it’s not fair.  Then the playoff expands, as it does in every other sport, and all of a sudden teams are playing games during finals week, on Christmas Day, in January once classes start and on into February, where the championship is played on Valentine’s Day.

Sounds good to me.

Not.

List of disappointing teams growing

Maybe my standards are too high.  After all, when a team has two of the top six recruits in the country and returns four of its top five starters from a year ago, they should be good.  Really good.  But Texas, has been anything but impressive lately after losing their third game in four tries.  In fact, the last time I was wowed by the Longhorns was 2009.  They’ve played poorly in all of their Big 12 games so far and still go to Norman, Stillwater, College Station, Waco and Columbia, along with a game against Kansas.

Of course, you can’t talk disappointment without bringing up the defending national champion Tar Heels.  Sure they lost everyone from the national championship team, but a great recruiting class and a talented group of players-in-waiting led by Deon Thompson should not have seven losses in January.

The Big East in general has been disappointing, thanks in large part to the poor performances of Louisville and Connecticut.  The Huskies have a healthy Jerome Dyson, as well as returners Kemba Walker and Stanley Robinson, but they have five Big East losses and haven’t played West Virginia, Syracuse or Villanova yet.  Meanwhile, Louisville, last year’s number one overall seed, has eight losses, including four of its past five in Big East play despite the expectation to contend for a Big East title with Samardo Samuels and Edgar Sosa.

Don’t forget about the Pac 10, namely Washington.  There are high school conferences in Ohio that could send more teams to the dance than the Pac 10, and the Huskies are under .500 in the league and in the bottom half of the conference.

I can keep going.  Oklahoma (12-9) was supposed to contend in the Big 12.  I guess that’s not likely after a 17 point blowout loss at previously winless Nebraska.  Michigan was supposed to do the same in the Big Ten, but the Wolverines have double-digit losses and a 4-5 conference record.

As the season progresses, so does the list of disappointments.  It’s a wide open race this year with no team truly establishing themselves as “dominant.”  It’s also good news for these disappointments that may still end up in the tournament.

College basketball picks – Jan. 30

20-win Cougars flying under the radar

Name one player who plays for the BYU Cougars men’s basketball team.  Do it.  Got nothing?  It’s okay, you’re just like everybody else.

You may not know anything about the underrated, overachieving, religious junkies from north central Utah.  Neither does anyone else.  But know this.  The Cougars are ranked #14 in the AP Poll and are creeping up on the nation.  ESPN ignores them.  You won’t find them on TV.  But while Tennessee was busy getting smoked at Georgia yesterday (Bulldogs ranked #73 in RPI), the Cougars were grinding out a tough win at San Diego State (Aztecs ranked #41 in RPI).  That win pushed BYU to 20-1 on the season.  They’re the first team in the country to achieve the 20-win milestone, and it’s still January.

The Cougars are outscoring opponents 83-62 on average and are shooting more than 50 percent for the season, including 42 percent from three-point range.

They have only three seniors on the team, none of whom are in the top three in scoring.  They are led by Jimmer Fredette, a junior averaging 20 points per game.  After that comes junior Jackson Emery and freshman Tyler Haws, each averaging 12.  In fact, 11 of the 13 players have played in at least 19 games.

Sure, the Cougars haven’t had much in terms of a schedule, but they did beat Arizona and Arizona State out of conference, both of whom are tied for second place in the Pac 10.  The one loss, at Utah State, is a loss to hide from, though the Aggies (15-6) do have a better RPI than Florida, Minnesota and Seton Hall.

The Mountain West has some tough teams (UNLV and New Mexico were ranked earlier this year, while Utah and San Diego State are also tournament bubble teams), but it’s not insane to think BYU could pull a Memphis and run the table.  If so, head coach Dave Rose may, dare I say it, have his team as high as a #1 seed come March.

College basketball picks – Jan. 23

Officials missed calls in weird situations

Today was a bad day for college basketball officials.

First, the NCAA ruled that Oregon’s win over Washington State in a game played New Year’s Eve would stand.  In that game, Washington State seemed to have won the game by making a go-ahead basket with 0.3 seconds left in overtime.  The officials then gave the Cougars a technical for having bench players step on the court, allowing the Ducks to tie the game on free throws and eventually win in double overtime.

Tonight, officials blew a should-have-been lane violation during a rousing Louisville comeback at Seton Hall.  The Cardinals had erased a monster deficit, cutting the lead to two with 0.7 seconds left.  Pirate guard Keon Lawrence took the ball out of the basket, blatantly stepped over the end line, tried to inbound it anyway, then gave it back to the referee! No joke.  Lawrence’s actions were so confusing that I think the referee was too confused to call anything.  Seton Hall won the game.

Turner gives Buckeyes bracket boost

IMPORTANT: This is based on games played through Jan. 19.  If the tournament started Jan. 20, this is what my bracket would look like.

Last four in:  Arizona State, Old Dominion, Texas A&M, Maryland
First four out:  Virginia Tech, Marquette, Oklahoma State, San Diego State

Kentucky remains #1 overall.  They are now the last remaining unbeaten team in division 1.

Texas is still a one seed despite the loss to Kansas State.  The Longhorns have a better strength of schedule than Kansas, as well as a more legitimate loss.

Despite Kansas State’s win over Texas, the schedule, as well as the loss to unranked Missouri, are not impressive enough to push them into a #2 spot yet.

Purdue takes another dip after the Northwestern loss, though they rebounded nicely with a tough win at Illinois.

Georgia Tech jumps to a #5 seed.  The Yellow Jackets now have wins over Duke, North Carolina and Clemson in the ACC.  Also making big jumps this week were Ohio State and Vanderbilt.

Now in as conference champions are Campbell and Western Kentucky, replacing East Tennessee State and Denver.

Major conference breakdown:

ACC:  7
Big 12:  6
Big East:  6
SEC: 5
Big Ten:  4
Pac 10:  2

See the complete bracket here

Pitt’s Dixon runaway choice for COY

If you’re waiting for the Pittsburgh Panthers to fall from cloud nine back into the middle of the Big East pack, you’re going to be disappointed.  It’s mid-January, and the team picked ninth in the Big East preseason poll is 5-0 in the conference and 14-2 overall.

No, they haven’t been beating up on Big East bottom feeders.  Three of Pittsburgh’s five conference wins have come on the road.  They won at #5 Syracuse (its only loss of the season), at Cincinnati ranked in December) and at UConn (ranked #15).  They also came back to beat a tough  Louisville team that was ranked in the top 20 to start the season.

If not for a weak nonconference schedule (Wichita State is the only quality win, with a blowout loss to Indiana), the Panthers might be in the top 10.  Even so, Jamie Dixon is the obvious choice for coach of the year at this point, and it’s really not even close.

Dixon lost four starters from last year’31-5 team that went to the elite eight.  Included in that star-studded draft class was Sam Young and DeJuan Blair, both of whom went to the NBA.  A young team searching for leadership has found some, as sophomore Ashton Gibbs has grown into his own with more playing time.  Gibbs is averaging 17.7 points per game, is shooting more than 40 percent from beyond the arc and is 92 percent from the foul line.  In fact, Dixon has played 10 players at least 10 games this season, and not on that list is Gilbert Brown (suspended for fall semester) and Jermaine Dixon (foot injury), who are the third and fourth leading scorers on the team respectively.

With a healthy lineup in sync for Big East play, this is a dangerously underrated team.  Even so, Dixon has to be given all the credit in the world.  He has a whole new team from last year.  Rarely do Big East teams beat Syracuse, Connecticut, Louisville and Cincinnati in a two-year span.  Pitt has done it through five games.

Jamie Dixon may have the Panthers in the top 10 come Monday.  If I had a vote, they’d be in.  And Dixon would be my Coach of the Year.  Is there even any competition?

College basketball picks – Jan. 16

March Madness…if it started today

IMPORTANT: This is based on games played through Jan. 12.  If the tournament started Jan. 13, this is what my bracket would look like.

I focused more on which teams got in and what seeds they would be, and less on balancing teams from the same conference in different regions.  As the weeks progress, the bracket will get more realistic.

Last four in:  UAB, Oklahoma State, Virginia Tech, Wichita State
First four out:  Minnesota, Louisville, Old Dominion, San Diego State

Kentucky is the #1 overall seed based on a much tougher strength of schedule than Texas.  Texas does have the benefit of playing its regional in Houston.

Kansas drops to a #2 seed based on having the weakest loss among them, Villanova and Syracuse, as well as the lowest strength of schedule.

Purdue takes a big dip, dropping to a #3 seed after two straight losses in conference play.

Minnesota and Louisville are out because, while they played a tough SOS, they have few if any quality wins.

Oklahoma State gets in because of its 29-point win over Texas Tech Saturday.

Wichita State is in for now, but the Missouri Valley will likely only get one bid if its conference champion wins the conference tournament.

Don’t agree?  Comment below and tell me why.

See the bracket here