Conference expansion: Mike Slive gets his Aggies for nothing

BIRMINGHAM, AL—The world of college football is going nuts at the moment with realignment, expansion and potential superconferences that could exacerbate the divide between the haves and have-nots. Other NCAA conference commissioners are raiding opponents, desperately trying to keep their conference alive, desperately trying to save their own job, lurking quietly or plotting world domination, but SEC commissioner Mike Slive has been rather quiet lately—despite extending an offer to Texas A&M and reportedly (or maybe not) to Missouri as well, allowing the ACC's raid on the Big East to dominate the headlines. Slive chose to break his silence at a Birmingham bar Tuesday night, walking out on stage with rock legend Mark Knopfler and debuting a new song the two of them have been secretly working on. Unfortunately, video cameras were not allowed, so to get a sense of what went down, watch this video of Knopfler's original (now permitted in Canada!) and substitute in the transcript of Slive's new lyrics below.

I want my, I want my, I want my ESS EEE CEE.

Now look at them Aggies, that’s the way you do it!
They’ll play their football in the ESS EEE CEE.
Conference expansion? That’s the way we do it!
Get our Aggies for nothing and our Tigers for free.

Conference ain’t working? That’s the way you do it
Let me tell you, them guys ain’t dumb
Maybe get a Baylor on your little finger
Maybe get a Baylor on your thumb.

We gotta install Missouri Tigers
Custom contract delivery!
We gotta move these threats of lawsuits
We gotta get more cash from TV.

That little AD with the beer sales and the couches?
Yeah buddy, that’s his own hair.
That little coach with the skullet and the Red Bull
He won’t fit in with our millionaires

We gotta install A&M Aggies
Top-ten fanbase delivery!
We gotta build our superconference
We gotta get more cash from TV

Look at that, look at that
I should have learned to play the tennis racket
I should have learned to play them bums
Look at that conference, cash sticking in the cameras
Man, can we have some?

And them out there, what’s that, Hawaiian noises?
Man, they just lost to UNLV!
That ain’t working, that ain’t the way to do it
No place for them in my ESS EEE CEE.

We gotta install new divisions
New big market delivery!
We gotta move these outdated contracts
We gotta get more cash from TV

I want my, I want my, I want my ESS EEE CEE
Get your Aggies for nothing, and your Tigers for free
I want my, I want my, I want my ESS EEE CEE

Destroy the Big 12 for nothing, get your cash for free.

Oregon carries its own ethical questions into BCS title game

Tonight’s BCS national championship game between the Oregon Duck Star and the Auburn Tigers is about more than just the action on the field. There are rumours of shadowy background figures, stories of vast sums of money, and questions about undue influence floating around—and that’s just on the Oregon side!

I’m obviously exaggerating for effect there, but it does bother me a bit that all the questions people are raising about ethics and morality are surrounding Auburn, and particularly Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Cam Newton. I’m not here to defend Newton or the NCAA’s convoluted decision to declare him eligible despite finding evidence of a pay-for-play scheme that’s certainly against their rules as they currently stand. Whether those rules are right or not is another question entirely, and whether it’s possible to change them in a way that’s fair and equitable to all athletes is yet another issue, but I understand where the people who want to put black hats on Auburn are coming from. I don’t necessarily agree, but I understand it.

What I don’t get is the corresponding desire to paint Oregon as the good guys, the cavalry that are going to come charging over the hill to save amateurism from the evil Cam Newton. To me, the Oregon program comes with just as many questions, and yet few of them have really been talked about much. The Newton story revolves around a reported demand of $200 thousand; Nike founder and chairman Phil Knight has reportedly given $200 million to the Oregon athletics department over the last 25 years. Here’s what Michael Rosenberg of Sports Illustrated recently wrote:

Knight's influence on Oregon is so great that calling him a booster is like calling the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff a concerned citizen. Without Knight, Oregon would be thrilled to go to the Holiday Bowl. Without Knight, Oregon would be asking for money instead of printing it.
Without Knight, Oregon would be ... (gasp!) Oregon State.
Knight holds the key to Oregon athletics in his wallet, and everybody there knows it. The new basketball gym -- Matthew Knight Arena, named after Phil's late son -- is his project. The school's uniforms, more than any other team's, are a billboard for his company, Nike. There is a sense that every new building and every important hire needs Knight's stamp of approval.

And John Henderson, in The Denver Post:

How do you go from one of the pack to one of a kind? How does Colorado go from the bowels of the Big 12 Conference to battling Oregon at the top of the Pac-12? Find a booster like Phil Knight.
They aren't found at the local Elks Lodge. No Colorado alumnus is worth $11 billion, is a former athlete at the school and is one of its most rabid fans. But the power of one wealthy, loyal booster can change the course of an entire athletic department and, thus, a university.
What has Knight meant to Oregon?
Said Bellotti, "What is the sun to life on Earth?"

The main difference seems to be that Knight and Nike are playing by the NCAA’s rules. In an athletic environment that claims to value amateurism but is really about big bucks, they aren’t daring (at least not that we know of) to go around actually giving money to the players who do the real work and sacrifice their bodies. Instead, they’re dumping money into swanky new facilities, highly-regarded coaches and fancy uniform designs that turn those unpaid players into walking, talking advertisements for an apparel company that carries its own set of ethical concerns. All of that appears perfectly fine with the NCAA, which wants amateur players but professional quality in everything else. Meanwhile, the NCAA sees Cecil Newton’s reported scheme and others’ similar moves as the real problem. There is some merit to that, as Newton’s scheme directly contravenes the rules while Knight’s works within them. All I’m saying is from this corner, the shadow Phil Knight casts over Oregon is just as ominous as Cecil Newton’s over Auburn. Root for either, but let’s not reduce this to a good guys-bad guys story.

[Meanwhile, on the yes-there's-an-actual-game-going-on front, here's my prediction:  Oregon 31, Auburn 24. Things should go well for Auburn initially, but Oregon’s conditioning might give them the edge in the second half. I think Darron Thomas can move the chains against Auburn’s struggling secondary, and that could open running holes for LaMichael James. For more detailed analysis, I point you to Matt Hinton, Chris Brown and Spencer Hall.] 

Sebastian Bach's Oregon power ballad

Like many other college football fans, I'm looking forward to the BCS championship game on Monday; it's a lousy way to determine a champion, but hey, it should be a good football game at least. Oregon's high-powered offence goes head-to-head with Heisman winner Cam Newton and the Auburn Tigers in what should be a thoroughly entertaining show. However, Oregon has one advantage Auburn may not be able to top. That advantage? Canadian metal star Sebastian Bach performing a school power ballad {lyrics NSFW}:



I don't know if it can compete with some of his earlier work, but what can?



The gauntlet for Canadian rock stars has been laid, Auburn, so you might want to give Geddy Lee a call. It's possible he could be impressed by Cam Newton's mean, mean stride.



[Via Dr. Saturday]

How Will Muschamp's first press conference at Florida should have gone

Sometimes, I get an idea in my head and can't get it out. This is one of those times. Here's how Will Muschamp's first press conference as the head coach at the University of Florida should have played out:



(I know the transitions and such aren't perfect, but cut me some slack. I'm a writer, Jim, not a video editor!)

[Thanks to Spencer Hall and Holly Anderson at Every Day Should Be Saturday for the inspiration.]

Kentucky Wildcats coming to Canada

Head coach Chris Oliver of the University of Windsor Lancers' men's basketball team had some interesting news in an e-mail release yesterday. Only a few weeks after deciding to stay at Windsor despite rumours of a move to McMaster, and earning a new contract in the process, Oliver has landed what should be one of the most intriguing exhibition matchups of this coming year; John Calipari's University of Kentucky Wildcats.

According to the release, the Wildcats will be coming north to Windsor from August 15-17, Sunday through Tuesday. They'll face the Lancers Sunday evening at 7 p.m., then face the University of Western Ontario Mustangs Monday night at 6 p.m. and then play the Lancers again Tuesday morning at 11 a.m. All games will be played at the university's St. Denis Centre; ticket prices are $10 for adults and youth, $5 for children. Advance ticket information is expected to be released soon through the university's website.

The Wildcats should be a fascinating matchup for Windsor and Western. They were a dominant team this year and one of the four #1 seeds in the NCAA tournament, falling in the Elite Eight to West Virginia. Yes, they will likely lose John Wall, DeMarcus Cousins and up to three other players to this month's NBA Draft, but all indications suggest that they'll have an incredible group of recruits to replace them. Topping the list at the moment are Rivals' overall top prospect, small forward Mike Gilchrist, and Marquis Teague, Rivals' #2 overall prospect and #1 point guard prospect.

Update: Gilchrist and Teague are actually on the 2011 list of recruits (my fault for misreading), but
the 2010 class is just as impressive; it's currently ranked #1 overall by Rivals and features potential stars like forward Enes Kanter and point guard Brandon Knight. Thanks to Windsor assistant coach Barry Amlin for the heads-up!

Kentucky should be a team to be reckoned with this coming season, so their tour should be a nice moment for the profile of Canadian basketball, as well as Western and Windsor. Moreover, the Wildcats are likely to again rely on freshman talent this year, so these games may be crucial preparation for them as well.

It's not the first Canadian tour by an NCAA squad, as these games have become quite common over the last few years. It's likely not to be the only one this year too; Jeremy Cockrill mentioned on Twitter that the Minnesota Golden Gophers may be coming to play UBC and Trinity Western this preseason as well, and I'm sure there will be more announced in the coming days. These games can deliver a tremendous show when things work well, though, such as the August 2008 clash between NCAA champion Kansas and perennial CIS powerhouse Carleton, which the Jayhawks won 84-83. This tour might even have higher potential than that; Kentucky isn't defending a national championship, but that was a rebuilding Kansas team and this could be more accurately described as a reloading Wildcats' squad. These matches should be ones to watch.

[Cross-posted to The CIS Blog]

On The Ground: Talking to top CFL prospect Shomari Williams

The CFL draft is coming up [Jaime Stein, CFL.ca] this Sunday (noon Eastern, TSN). It's always an exciting time of the year, particularly from the perspective of watching CIS stars making the jump to the pros. To get you excited for it, here's an e-mail interview I just conducted with Shomari Williams, the Queen's defensive end who led the Gaels to the Vanier Cup this year and is ranked first overall by the CFL's scouting bureau. We talked about the CFL, CIS, the NCAA and his up-and-coming business helping recruits. My questions and his responses are below (slight edits for clarity).

Andrew Bucholtz: You've made a pretty meteoric rise up the CFL Scouting Bureau rankings, from #15 at the start of last season to #4 in December to #1 earlier this year. Do you pay any attention to the rankings, and if so, what did it feel like to take over the top spot?

Shomari Williams: It felt great being named the top prospect in Canada. I worked real hard all season and it was a great feeling to know that all my hard work paid off.

A.B.: With the draft coming up this weekend, there's a chance you could be selected first overall. Do you see the top spot as something special, the way it's usually viewed in the NFL, or does it not make as much of a difference in the CFL's smaller draft?

S.W.: I think this is a big deal. Even though the CFL is smaller than the NFL, only a select few people can ever say they were drafted and even fewer can say they were taken first overall. If I am picked first, it will be something special for me and my family to have my name in the record books as the number-one pick in the 2010 CFL draft.

A.B.: How do you feel about getting the chance to play in the CFL? Has it been something you've always been interested in, or a more recent goal?

S.W.: I feel truly blessed to have an opportunity to play in the CFL. When I first started college, I never had plans to play pro. My first goal was to get on the field and contribute to my team and go from there. As time went on in college, I started thinking about playing pro and coming back and going to Queen's really helped me in getting ready for a professional career.

A.B.: I understand you grew up in Brampton and then played in the NCAA at the University of Houston before coming to Queen's last year. Why did you choose that career path (high school to NCAA to CIS), and would you change anything if you had the chance to go back and do it again?

S.W.: Growing up, I just dreamed of playing in the NCAA. Watching it on TV made me fall in love with football in the States. Getting a scholarship and attending the University of Houston was a great experience for me. I graduated from Houston and I really wanted to play pro football, and I thought the best way to position myself for that was to come back and play for Queen's. I really don't like what-if scenarios, so I don't regret any of the choices I've made and I think all the experiences I've had has made me a better person.

A.B.: What did it mean to you to win the Vanier Cup in your only year of CIS football?

S.W.: Winning the Vanier made me feel like Carmelo Anthony! To come to a team for one year and have such a great season individually and team-wise, you couldn't ask for anything more. The 2010 Queen's Golden Gaels will go down in history as a championship team, and to be a part of that is something that I will never forget.

A.B.: How do NCAA and CIS football compare (calibre, coaching, atmosphere, practices, etc)? What did you like and dislike about each?

S.W.: Some things in the NCAA you can't compare to the CIS. It's just because the NCAA has so much money. The two things I think any football player is looking for when deciding on a program is the experience and the coaching. I had a wonderful experience and excellent coaching in my short time in the CIS and the playoff atmosphere was ridiculous too.

A.B.: Did you find it difficult to adapt to Canadian rules after your years in the NCAA? Which set of rules do you like better?

S.W.: To be honest, I barely noticed the rules. A few times, I lined up offside, but other than that, I really didn't notice the different rules.

A.B.: If you could change CIS however you wanted (at an organization-wide level, a football-wide level or just a Queen's level), what changes would you make?

S.W.: There are so many changes I think the CIS should implement to make the league better. To me, it has a great product, but we hear so little about it. I wish the CIS was run more like a business. To me, if the people involved had a greater stake in the success of the league, they would be more creative in how to expand and market the league.

A.B.: I understand you started Student Blitz (his recruiting business) in 2007. What gave you the idea, and how did you put it into practice? How many athletes have you worked with?

S.W.: Going through the recruiting process myself and seeing how much time and money it cost to send film to college coaches. I thought about ways to make the process more efficient for other players with time and money, so I created a database that allows you to send your film and athletic information to any NCAA coach. I've worked with about 15 athletes now and 70% of those athletes have received full scholarships, so I am happy with that.

A.B.: What are your future plans for the site?

S.W.: Right now, I am trying to get an investor and partner for the business so that he can run the day-to-day operations of the site. I am also excited about my new venture, TopProspects.ca, which should launch in May. This service will help high school athletes get recruited by CIS coaches.

Thanks to Shomari for taking the time to talk with me! Best of luck to him this Sunday. If you want to follow the draft, it will be televised on TSN starting at 12 p.m. Eastern/9 a.m. Pacific. I'll also be following the B.C. Lions' Den's crew's live blog; it should be an excellent source of draft coverage too. I'll hopefully have a post-draft summary up Sunday afternoon at both Sporting Madness and The CIS Blog.

[Cross-posted to The CIS Blog]

CIS: Shrum Bowl back on

One of the side effects of SFU's decision to jump to NCAA Division II and UBC's subsequent decision to remain in CIS for the time being was the potential loss of CIS football's most storied games, the annual Shrum Bowl between the two teams. The Shrum Bowl has been contested 32 times over the years and always gets a fair bit of attention; everyone in the Lower Mainland knows about the UBC-SFU rivalry, and the annual football game has been one of its best expressions. Fortunately, as Howard Tsumura of The Province reports, that's going to continue for at least this year.

Oddly enough, SFU's switch to the NCAA both threatened and preserved this year's game. The two teams will no longer meet in Canada West competition, but the Clan's departure left Canada West with only six football teams and forced a conference-wide bye on the Oct. 8-10 weekend. During that bye, the game will be played under the Friday night lights at UBC's Thunderbird Stadium on Oct. 8.

The other interesting element of this is the changes in the rules. They go back to the days when UBC was in CIS and SFU was in the NAIA. The two schools would alternate hosting the game, and it would be played by Canadian rules at UBC and by American rules when SFU was hosting, giving it a unique atmosphere and feel. When SFU joined CIS, the Shrum Bowl was still important, but it was also just a league game (and one of the two the teams would play each year). Now, it's set to go back to a once-a-year event with alternating hosts and rules, and it will become much more unique again.

Of course, the scheduling issues might make this just a one-off. We don't know if Canada West will add more football teams or alter the schedule after this year, and the Division II Great Northern Athletic Conference might do the same thing. Either of those changes could kill the game for good. UBC might wind up jumping to the NCAA as well, which could let the game continue but turn it back into a regular league game. For now, though, the Shrum Bowl is alive and well, and back to the clash of countries it used to be. Let's hope it's able to continue in some form; it's a unique showcase for CIS football.

[Cross-posted to The CIS Blog]

CIS: Final league showdown for UBC and SFU

It's a special day for Simon Fraser University's basketball teams. They're hosting the archrival UBC Thunderbirds in a pair of rather important games. On the women's side, the No. 1 Clan are coming off thumpings of the Winnipeg Wesmen and Manitoba Bisons last weekend. They're looking to maintain their perfect 13-0 record in conference play, but they'll face a tough opponent in 10-4 UBC, as the Thunderbirds are tied for second in the Canada West Pacific division. It's also the last home league game for their seniors, including popular blogger Kate Hole, and the team's also raising funds for breast cancer research.

On the men's side, the 12-2 Clan (ranked No. 7) are flying high after knocking off No. 1 UBC 82-79 Wednesday Thursday (thanks, Peter!). That was the 13-1 Thunderbirds' first conference loss. They'll be out for revenge in today's rematch.

The other interesting subplot to these games is that they're the final regular-season CIS home games SFU's basketball teams will play, as the school's planned move to the NCAA in 2011 got bumped up to this coming year after Canada West put them on probation earlier this year. As Rob wrote, that also could mean that SFU's fourth-year players either end their careers here (thanks to the NCAA's four-year eligibility window, as compared to the five years in CIS) or wind up moving to another school. This adds another dimension to what's already a compelling pair of contests. I'll be covering both games today (the men's game is at 3 p.m. Pacific, with the women's game to follow) and live-blogging both if I'm able to get an Internet connection; feel free to stop by! I'll have a post-game piece later tonight as well.

[Cross-posted to The CIS Blog]

Era of change continues for CIS soccer

Following closely on the heels of Paul James' departure from York, famed UBC soccer coach Dick Mosher announced his retirement this weekend. Mosher had been involved with both UBC's men's and women's programs since 1986. He won six national titles with the men, one in his first year in 1986 and another five between 1989 and 1994, then moved to the women's game and won titles in 2002, 2003 and 2006. He also won Canada West coach of the year seven times and CIS coach of the year three times. That's an incredibly impressive resume.

Losing a coach of the calibre of Mosher is obviously tough for CIS soccer, but this is perhaps less damaging than James' departure. There's no indication that Mosher wasn't getting enough support from the university or had too much on his plate, and this doesn't seem like a coach leaving to pursue other opportunities. Mosher is 65, and while he certainly could coach for several more years, it's not difficult to belive that he might want to retire.

The other thing to consider is that one of the most prominent jobs in CIS soccer has just opened up. UBC has a lot of things going for it; its location in the Lower Mainland, where there's a lot of focus on developing elite female players through club programs and high schools, the success the program has had under Mosher, the amount of support the program gets from the administration (from the outside at least, soccer at UBC seems to get more respect than it does at many CIS schools, where it's frequently overlooked in favour of football and basketball) and perhaps most importantly, the program's strong relationships with the Vancouver Whitecaps' women's teams and the Canadian national teams.

There are a couple of different paths UBC could take to find a new coach. One would be to promote one of the two current assistant coaches, Jonas Worth or Steve Baarts. Another would to be to bring back a prominent alumnus, such as Andrea Neil, who's currently an assistant coach with the women's national team. The third would be to hire a head coach from another CIS school, which would then set off a train of coaching dominoes like we've recently seen
in NCAA football. Either of the first two options seems more likely, but you can't rule the third one out completely.

Speaking of the NCAA, though, that may be a complicating factor in the coaching search. As The Province reported yesterday, things are still progressing on the UBC-to-the-NCAA front, albeit slowly. Athletic director Bob Philip was in Atlanta this week for the NCAA's general meeting, which suggests the UBC administration is still considering the move quite seriously. Now, the calibre of women's soccer probably isn't that different from NCAA Division II to the CIS (and I'd venture that CIS might even be better on the women's side, given the amount of national team players who have come from each), but that's still a lot of uncertainty for a coach to deal with. That also might be another factor that would make it easier for UBC to hire an assistant or an alumnus, whose loyalty would be to the program, not necessarily to CIS soccer.

[Cross-posted to The CIS Blog]

The Trojan War

I'm a firm devotee of ancient literature, particularly the works of Homer (perhaps the second-greatest Homer of all time, only slightly behind Homer Simpson). There were far too many similarities between Tuesday's events around Tennessee coach Lane Kiffin decamping for USC and the Trojan War for me to simply let them pass. I started with a few thoughts on Twitter, but the great Peter James convinced me to turn them into a full post. Thus, we here at Sporting Madness present The Trojan War: 2009 Edition. (If you've got no clue what I'm on about, I highly recommend this primer.)

Following the departure of Pete Carroll for the Seattle Seahawks, USC athletic director Mike "Paris" Garrett was faced with a difficult decision. He had to decide on a new football head coach, and was given three options by the football goddesses. Athena offered him the path of wisdom, going after an established college coach in the Mike Riley vein. Hera offered him the path of power with an NFL coach like Jeff Fisher or Jack Del Rio. Garrett considered their offerings for a while, and may have even attempted to take one or both, but ultimately elected for Aphrodite's gift, the path of headlines. With his selection, he was given the power to lure Layla "Helen" Kiffin, judged by many to be the fairest college football wife on the planet.

Layla Kiffin (image via Clay Travis)

With Layla came her husband, Lane "Menelaus" Kiffin. Lane had inherited various Spartan thrones over the years thanks to his genetics, including those of the Oakland Raiders and the Tennessee Volunteers. He hadn't shown great kingly progress to this point, making ill-advised accusations against other SEC coaches and forgetting to send oxen off to his supporters, but the stabilizing influence of his more competent relative Monte "Agamemnon" Kiffin prevented things from getting too bad. The Kiffins set sail for Troy, bringing famed recruiting warrior Ed "Achilles" Orgeron with them, and dragging a horde of prospects as well.

With the departure of the Kiffins came riots, vandalism and other chaos. Part of this was because they left the UT campus of Achaea, but weren't able to get out of town entirely and wound up in Mysia instead, sparking violence among the natives (as seen below).



Despite the chaos, the Kiffins' voyage appears set to get back under way soon and they should make it to the land of the Trojans shortly. However, the success or failure of their war may hang on one man, Norm "Odysseus" Chow. There are rumours that he will join the war effort, and reports that he's sitting at home at archrival UCLA and sowing his fields with salt. USC has landed an impressive cast of coaches in one fell swoop, but they could certainly still use a brilliant offensive mind like Chow. The newcomers may be formidable on the recruiting battlefields, but this will be a war, not merely a short-term clash of arms. The strong may prevail for a day, but they always have their vulnerable heels; in Kiffin's case, that could be the recruiting violations he seems to pick up at will. When the strong go down, it's awfully nice to have a clever man around to pick up the pieces.

Will Lane Kiffin's recruiting violations be his Achilles' heel at USC?

Mike Leach was railroaded

The Mike Leach saga took a bizarre twist this morning when Texas Tech fired him [Tommy Craggs, Deadspin] just before [Matt Hinton, Dr. Saturday] he received a court order [Pete Thamel, Twitter] allowing him to coach in their bowl game. This comes after [AP] their suspension of him a few days earlier in response to allegations [Craggs] of mistreatment by Tech wide receiver Adam James, the son of ESPN analyst Craig James.

The whole thing stinks to high heaven. Seth C of Double-T Nation, the SBN blog for Texas Tech, has an excellent post here detailing the lack of communication between the university and Leach, the financial implications at stake and the power play between Leach and athletic director Gerald Myers. Spencer Hall goes through more of the details and discusses the power struggle between the two sides over at SB Nation, Chris Brown has an interesting analysis of how this might eventually shake out and Matt Hayes of The Sporting News has a great piece on the real reasons for the firing. As he writes, "This is the definition of payback, everyone. Nearly a year after the fact. The record will show that Leach, Tech's unorthodox yet highly successful coach, was fired Wednesday for mistreatment of a player with a "mild" concussion. The reality is Leach was fired because he took Texas Tech for everything it had last February during contract negotiations -- and made the university brass look like bumbling fools in the process." There's pretty clear evidence that there's more going on here than just Leach's alleged mistreatment of James.

Concussions have obviously been a key issue of mine for a long time, so you'd think I'd be all in favour of a coach getting fired for dealing with them improperly. In this case, you'd be wrong, though. Leach's actions seem perfectly reasonable; when faced with a concussed player sensitive to light, he had him go stand in a dark room during practice. That sounds like a pretty logical treatment, and certainly not something that would cause James further injury. It hardly smacks of cruel and unusual punishment, especially if you watch this video from the local NBC affiliate that explored the "sheds" where James was allegedly confined:



Not bad, eh? They certainly doesn't look anywhere near as awful as the James' family's press release made them sound. Perhaps even more revealing are the e-mails from former Tech players and coaches CBS' Dennis Dodd published on his blog, which give some interesting insights into the character of both Leach and Adam James. Here are some highlights:

Former Red Raider WR, current Saskatchewan Roughrider Eric Morris: "You can find out a lot about a person after playing three years of college football with them. Adam James was a teammate of mine from 2006-2009. Ever since the day he arrived on the Texas Tech campus you couldn’t help but to feel a negative energy from him. He expected people to baby him and that he was going make it solely on the fact that his father was a very successful player. Coach Leach has never been a coach to just give something to someone because of who they are. He believes that everyone is equal and you have to earn respect from your coaches and teammates. Adam was never known as a hard worker. I can honestly agree with this because we played the same position and I witnessed his laziness on a daily bases."

Former Red Raider QB, current Saskatchewan Roughrider Graham Harrell: " Before Adam James ever entered the football locker room at Texas Tech I heard how spoiled and selfish he acted in a team atmosphere from many of my baseball friends. Adam was on the baseball team his true freshman year at Tech, before he ever joined the football team, and did not make it through the baseball season because of his selfish attitude. After a baseball game in which he felt like he did not get enough playing time, but the team still won twenty to one, he came into the locker room after the game and “pouted and threw a big fit” according another player on the baseball team. A few weeks later in the middle of the season, he just stopped showing up to practices or game and quit because he was not happy about how he was being treated.

One of my roommates was a baseball player on the team and many of my friends were a part of the team that witnessed all of this. These baseball players told me he was “spoiled and selfish” before he ever came to the football team. After quitting baseball he came out for football and his selfish attitude was very evident, as was his laziness. During >off-season workouts he often would be caught skipping lifts in the weight room or finding ways to cut corners/get out of conditioning exercises. When we had player organized seven on seven throwing in the summer, when he would show up he was much more interested in playing his own games on the side of the field or telling people that he wasn’t going to run any routes because the coaches do not get him a “fair opportunity” anyway. During the season he was often “injured” (it usually seemed like a very minor injury that could keep him out of practice but never out of any other activity, including games) so he would not participate in some drills in practice. None of these acts were productive for our team, but the most detrimental part of Adam was his off field attitude and actions. ...

Mike Leach was not only my head coach, but he was my position coach all five of my years at Texas Tech. I spent more time with him than any other player during my five years and had meetings with him every day. He was very hard on me and every other player in program and he held very high expectations for every player. He would push us all every day during the season and during the off-season. He felt that hard work, dedication and doing things right was the only way we could be successful and compete in the Big XII conference. He worked harder and longer than anyone else in program and was committed to winning at all cost. He would never have been unfair to a player or not played the best players he had because he wanted to win more than anything else. Coach Leach also expected us to be tough but smart at the same time. He would not pressure a kid to play with a serious injury or play when he did not feel ready to play. Coach Leach is a man that cares about his player and puts his players, coaches and the well being of the Texas Tech football program above all else."

Current Tech slot receiver coach Lincoln Riley: "During the last two years of being the inside receivers coach, I have had the chance to learn a lot about Adam James. He came to Tech because of one person: Coach Leach. Although we adamently doubted his talent, we as coaches came to see that Adam actually had enough talent to help us out. The problem, though, is that Adam is unusually lazy and entitled. Many other players on this team, specifically receivers, have a much larger role on this team with less talent. I have always been worried about Adam's effect on my other players because of his weak and conceited attitude. I recently found out that Adam deliberately undermined my authority on many occasions. This is particularly disturbing because Coach Leach hired me to make our receivers the best group in the country, and Adam has damaged this
group far more than I even realized. ...

Two practices before Adam James claimed he had a concussion, Coach Leach and I were forced to discipline him for poor effort from the previous practice and poor effort during the early drills of that day. This has been a common theme about Adam's work ethic and attitude during his entire career. Adam, along with two other receivers that were also unsatisfactory, was sent to run stadium steps with Bennie Wylie. After the practice, Bennie made it very clear to Coach Leach and I that Adam was a complete "jerk" while he was being punished. After talking with Adam after the practice, it was very clear to me that Adam did not agree with the punishment and believed that we were just mis-asessing his effort. He complained to me that we were not doing our jobs as coaches and that his effort was just fine, all of which is very typical of him to say."

Former Tech slot receiver coach Dana Holgorsen, currently the offensive coordinator at the University of Houston: "I am writing this letter on behalf of Mike Leach in regards to the Adam James situation. I was the inside receiver coach at Texas Tech when we made the decision the sign Adam James in January of 2007. Adam had no offers to play NCAA D1 football during and after his Senior year. After a conversation between Coach Leach and Adams father Craig, Coach Leach acquired a brief highlight tape of Adam and made the decision to take him as a scholarship student athlete. I was opposed to doing so in belief he was not a D1 football player. Coach Leach overrode my opinion and Adam became a Red Raider. During the rest of my time at Texas Tech I was Adams position coach where I always remained critical of Adams ability to play at this level due to being lazy in not only the classroom but also in the off season and during practice. Coach Leach was the one who kept saying he believed Adam would eventually contribute. Adams teammates believed he was selfish and were constantly getting onto him for lack of effort as they sensed entitlement on his part due to his father being a very good football player. Adam eventually ended up playing a little after I left due to his body type being able to do some TE sets which consists of around 5-10 plays a game. Adam should be thankful for the opportunity to play at Texas Tech and for Mike Leach, who gave him the opportunity. In my opinion playing 5-10 plays a game in an outstanding offense is more than he would get at any other school in NCAA D1 football."

I highly recommend going to Dodd's blog to read the whole series of e-mails, but just the excerpts show a lot of what's really going on here. Yes, all of the players and coaches above have reasons to support Leach, but it's very interesting that they all hit the same points about James. Particularly of note are the comments by the coaches on how they didn't want James, but Leach argued for him. Sounds like Leach did James a favour, and for that favour, he's been stabbed in the back and has lost his job. Et tu, Brute?

What's interesting is that this is at least in some way a reassertion of the football establishment. Leach has always been a quirky figure outside the general club of football coaches, as shown by this fascinating 2005 profile of him by Michael Lewis. Craig James is much more of a traditionalist, so it's not surprising that he and Leach butted heads.

It's a shame that this is how things ended for Leach and Tech, though; he created a brilliant passing offence by thinking outside the box and produced greatquarterbacks like Harrell, who were unfortunately overlooked by the groupthink of professional football as I've written before
. He turned an afterthought of a program into a national presence, not by traditional means but through an unconventional system that maximized his players' strengths and minimized their weaknesses. For my money, he's one of the best coaches in NCAA football.

Of course, not everything Leach did was brilliant (blocking his players from using Twitter was just dumb, his "fat little girlfriends" comment was bizarre, renaming his quarterback "Nick" was pretty ridiculous and receiver Ed Britton, who Leach made study outside in a blizzard for missing class, has a much better claim to mistreatment than James). None of that is a reason to fire him, though, and neither is this latest case. In the end, the pirate-loving Leach has been forced to walk the plank before his time, railroaded by an administration looking for an excuse to dump him in favour of a more traditional coach. That's a shame. Hopefully Leach will land on his feet, bring an unconventional but successful approach to a new school and make all involved regret this travesty of a process.

Queen's win shows the need for an NCAA playoff

This year in CIS (Canadian Interuniversity Sport) football has seen some crazy games. The Ontario playoffs in particular have been excellent, and the Queen's Golden Gaels emerged as Yates Cup champions with wins over the McMaster Marauders and the Western Mustangs. Today, they knocked off the Laval Rouge et Or 33-30 (see my friend and former Queen's Journal colleague Mike Woods' CP story here) to advance to the Vanier Cup, the Canadian university championship. There, they'll take on the University of Calgary Dinos, who demolished the Saint Mary's Huskies 38-14 in the Uteck Bowl earlier today.

In the wake of the Queen's game, Canwest News Service's Peter James made an interesting remark that served as the inspiration for this post. Tongue-in-cheek, he tweeted, "BCS supporters can point to the #CIS to show why their system works. Queen's upset prevented at No. 1 vs. No 2 Vanier Cup."

That's true, as Laval ranked first and Calgary ranked second in the final UFRC-CIS poll of the season. Queen's was fourth. Personally, I had Queen's as the top team in every week after Laval's surprising loss to Montreal, as the Gaels never lost a meaningful game (their sole loss came in the regular-season finale after they'd already locked up the top playoff berth), and I predicted last night on Norman James' radio show that I saw them winning by a field goal thanks to their ability to dominate the trench fights. However, I was very much in the minority; most saw this as an easy Laval win, and figured it would be a victory for Queen's just to keep it close. There's no way Queen's would have been selected for the title game if the CIS used any sort of BCS ranking system.

To me, what this shows is how desperately the NCAA needs a playoff system. Last week's Yates Cup against Western and this week's Queen's-Laval game have been two of the better football games I've seen at any level. Things are so close at the top of the CIS that any team can win on any given Saturday. To me, it makes zero sense to rely on a system of polls, no matter how elaborate. It's the results on the field that matter, and the unpredictability of football means anything can happen; last year, for example, 8-0 Queen's was upset in their first playoff game by the 4-4 University of Ottawa Gee-Gees. We see that south of the border as well, especially in the Pac-10 this year, where the top teams are all tightly bunched and the bottom teams aren't far beneath them.

Most of the time in North American culture, successful developments come from the U.S. and are transmitted north to Canada, often much later. As Robin Scherbatsky remarked in How I Met Your Mother's "Slap Bet" episode (one of my favourites), "The 80's didn't come to Canada till, like '93". That explains this video:



However, in football, it's often been a different story. The CFL proved to be the spawning ground for passing-oriented offences, which have since taken over the NCAA and the NFL to a degree. Guys like Warren Moon and Doug Flutie weren't intially given chances in the NFL thanks to being too black or too short to play quarterback; they came to the CFL, excelled, and forced the NFL to innovate. I suggest that the NCAA should follow this trend and take a page from the CIS playbook. It wouldn't even be that hard to use a somewhat similar system, as most of the major conferences already have championship games; take the winners of those games, figure out a good way to add a couple of at-large berths and run a three-week, eight-team playoff. There would still be issues around which teams were selected for the playoffs, but you wouldn't likely have the status quo where teams can win every game and still come up short. Championships should be decided on the field, not by voters or computers, and the NCAA should take a page from the CIS playbook on this one.

What does SFU probation mean?

A very interesting story came out yesterday that hasn't received a ton of coverage to date. Vancouver radio station CKNW reported that Simon Fraser University's athletic program has been placed on probation by Canada West for the 2009-10 season. Unlike NCAA probation, this move won't affect SFU teams and their quest for regional and national titles. However, it does remove SFU's vote on conference decisions. More importantly, it leaves them in limbo for next season (2010-11), the year before they're scheduled to join the NCAA's Division II (for the 2012 year).

Sandy Slavin, the president of Canada West and the director of athletics at the University of Lethbridge, told CKNW the decision was made thanks to SFU's plan to join the NCAA.

"We don't believe they have a vested interest in our business any more and they shouldn't be voting," she said.

She said they decided to avoid measures that would penalize SFU's teams this year, though.

"At this point, doing anything that would affect Simon Fraser's ability to fully compete in '09-10, we felt was very unfair to the student athletes," she said.

This seems pretty logical. SFU doesn't seem to have a vested interest in the future of Canada West beyond the 2010-11 season. When the original decision to join the NCAA was made, there was some speculation about splitting SFU's teams between the NCAA and CIS (as they currently do with CIS and the NAIA), but that seems to have withered; CKNW's piece says "Beginning with the 2011-12 season, all of the SFU varsity teams will compete in the NCAA's Division II Great Northwest Athletic Conference." Thus, if they're not going to have teams in CIS competition beyond 2011, it would seem to make sense to exclude them from voting on CIS decisions. It also appears logical to avoid competitive sanctions for this year; teams are already in action, athletes have chosen their schools and schedules have been set. Taking away SFU's ability to compete would have appeared a merely vindictive move, and one that would have hurt CIS.

Nothing's been decided on the eligibility of SFU's teams for next season, though, and that could be a very interesting debate. Would Canada West be willing to boot a prominent university like SFU from competition? If Canada West decides to kick them out, would they be able to join the NCAA early? What would happen to their teams and athletes? There are plenty of questions, but for now, the best answer comes from what SFU athletic director David Murphy told CKNW:

"Next year is rather up in the air right now."

[Cross-posted to The CIS Blog]

Graham Harrell and Saskatchewan: a perfect fit?

It was rather exciting to see former Texas Tech quarterback Graham Harrell sign with the Saskatchewan Roughriders yesterday [Murray McCormick, Regina Leader-Post]. Harrell, the NCAA Division I career leader in touchdown passes, is one of the most impressive quarterbacks I've seen. As I wrote a while ago, there's a great chance he would have been able to succeed in the NFL if not for the groupthink that determines the evaluation of NFL quarterbacks. Harrell had a far better season and career statistically than first-overall draft pick Matthew Stafford or fifth-overall pick Mark Sanchez, but went completely undrafted and then failed to catch on with the Cleveland Browns as a free agent.

The logic behind passing Harrell over? Well, it isn't especially convincing. NFL evaluation of quarterbacks has long placed college numbers below such things as height and arm strength. The NFL also consistently passes over "system" quarterbacks who run pass-heavy offences in favour of those who got their playing time in a more balanced environment . Sometimes this works well; players like Matt Cassel, who never started in college, have gone on to be NFL stars, while other players with impressive college careers, like Ryan Leaf, have failed spectacularly in the professional ranks.

On the whole, though, the system is rather flawed. As Malcolm Gladwell examined in Outliers (a book I wrote about here), many different approaches have been tried, but no consistent way to predict quarterbacks' professional success has yet been found. With that in mind, it doesn't particularly make sense to eliminate massive amounts of capable quarterbacks such as Harrell because they don't fit into an evaluation model that has been demonstrated not to work.

The NFL's loss may well be the CFL's gain, though. As I wrote in my initial piece, Harrell isn't a perfect quarterback in the traditional NFL mould. He doesn't have the pure arm strength of many NFL players (although he's still able to throw deep balls when needed), and he isn't a gunslinger in the Brett Favre mould who zips bullet passes into tight coverage. That may be to his advantage, though, especially in Canada.

What Harrell excels at is running a spread offence with four or five receivers, making quick reads and finding the open man. That allows him to have an extraordinarily high completion percentage and a low number of interceptions, as well as a lot of touchdown passes. He's far more efficient and effective then the strong-armed types who rely on pure power and often throw interceptions. Harrell might or might not be a successful quarterback in a traditional NFL offence, but I'm quite confident he could be very successful with a team that tailored its offence to his strengths. Well, the CFL just happens to feature a lot of shotgun spread formations and pass-oriented offences, and the Roughriders in particular have an extraordinarily deep receiving corps that would be a perfect fit for Harrell. With the likes of former teammate Eric Morris, Rob Bagg, Andy Fantuz, Chris Getzlaf, Jason Clermont, Weston Dressler and Johnny Quinn as slotbacks and wide receivers, plus a couple of excellent receiving backs in Wes Cates and Hugh Charles, Harrell will have plenty of weapons suited to his style of play. That's not just my evaluation, either; Texas Tech play-by-play man Brian Jensen wrote that "this could be a match made in ... yes ... Canada is far enough north to be close to heaven!" and Tech assistant coach Matt Jansen wrote on Twitter that he's also a big fan of the move. " I'm so excited for Graham," he wrote. "He gets to team up with Eric Morris again and they could be a deadly combo up there. If you're a fan of that team, you couldn't ask for two guys with more heart for the game of football. I'm jealous."

Of course, the Roughriders are 2-0 so far this year, and you don't usually make quarterback changes when you're winning. Still, starter Darian Durant hasn't been overly impressive thus far, and backup Steven Jyles still has to prove himself at the CFL level. The Riders' quarterback situation is actually perhaps more open than any CFL team except Winnipeg, as neither of their top two options has really been spectacular at the CFL level yet. Thus, this could be a terrific fit for Harrell.

It also could be good for the league to get a high-profile QB like Harrell. It brings back memories of the days when the likes of Warren Moon and Doug Flutie were passed over by the NFL and opted to come to Canada. In fact, those guys faced similar challenges in cracking the NFL system; Moon was a black quarterback long before black quarterbacks were widely accepted, and Flutie was considered far too short to succeed in the NFL. Both did well in Canada and then proved to the NFL that their evaluation model was flawed with triumphant returns. Let's see if Harrell can follow in their footsteps.

Fun with the BCS!

So, your team got hosed by the arcane process of the BCS? Fear not. Here are some links to make you feel better about it. First, we have Patrick Hruby and Mike Philbrick's tournament to figure out what sci-fi computers would be better qualified to determine a national champion than the current system. My money's on Skynet. Next, Matthew J. Darnell of Shutdown Corner has a great piece on why the BCS is the ultimate solution and we should replace the NFL's silly "playoff system" with it. Enjoy.

The GBU: Queen's vs Buffalo (hoops)

Breaking down Sunday night's basketball game between the Gaels and the University at Buffalo Bulls (who have a surprisingly close name to that other Buffalo team invading Canada for pre-season games)...

The score: 88-61, Buffalo.

How I saw it: In person.

The Good:

Mitch Leger: Leger had his fourth consecutive game with over 20 points, racking up 23 points (on 10 of 15 shooting from the field) and nine rebounds (two offensive) in 28 minutes of action. He scored nine of Queen's first 11 points, but his effectiveness went down after Buffalo started to double-team him. I talked with Buffalo head coach Reggie Witherspoon afterwards, and he said he didn't have much information on individual Queen's players before the match, so they weren't particularly prepared for Leger. Once he started lighting them up, though, Buffalo made the adjustment to a double-team on Leger in the post and challenged the Gaels' other shooters to beat them. Leger was still somewhat effective while double-teamed, but he picked up two quick fouls and had to ride the pine for a while. He still had a decent second half, but only put up eight points to the 15 he got in the first and earned himself two technicals and an ejection. Leger was vital to Queen's play: while he was on the floor, they were keeping it close, but Buffalo went on a run whenever he left.

Dan Bannister: The second-year guard had a pretty good game for the Gaels, suggesting that he might provide some of the secondary scoring this team certainly needs. He put up 16 points on seven-of-12 shooting, and made two of his three three-point shots. However, this comes with a qualification: see The Ugly below.

(By the way, people really should get together on how to spell his name. The roster I was given has it as Bannister, but the stat sheet has Banister, which is also how he's listed on queensbasketball.net. His Facebook page has the two N version, so that's what I'm using until further notice, but it's stuff like this that leads to stat mixups: I remember looking at one OUA box score last year that featured Dan Banister, Dan Bannister and Daniel Bannister, with all three having different stats.)

Baris Ondul: Perhaps Baris is reading this blog. After I mentioned his horrible three-point shooting performance against Anderson, he came back with a tremendous performance against Buffalo. This time around, he was mostly taking good shots, and made four out of his nine field goal attemps (including three of his five three-point attempts). He also distributed the ball effectively, racking up five assists and only turning it over once.

Tim Boyle: Boyle didn't put up an impressive stat line (three points on one-of-three shooting and three rebounds), but he did a great job in his defensive stopper role. He also played with a ton of heart: it was quite something to see the 6'3'' Boyle battling in the post against Buffalo's 6'8'' or 6'9'' guys, and often coming up with the rebound himself or tipping it to a teammate.

Rob Shaw: I'm somewhat conflicted on this one, as Shaw didn't make a single one of his five shots from the field. Four of those were three-point attempts, and the majority of them were poor decisions. However, Shaw proved an excellent playmaker and racked up eight assists to just one turnover: highly unusual stats for a big man, but still effective. He also added two blocks and five rebounds. I would have preferred to see him use his size more to drive the lane, but he turned in a strong overall performance.

The Bad:

Rodney Pierce: His name suggests a combination of Rodney Stuckey and Paul Pierce, and that isn't a bad description of the Buffalo guard. Pierce isn't the tallest guy on Buffalo's roster (6'2''), but he's got a lot of muscle, and he was able to both drive effectively and shoot from the outside. He went 10 for 19 from the field (as well as five for eight from beyond the arc) and put up 25 points and five rebounds.

Calvin Betts: This game's a prime example of impressions deceiving. From watching, you'd think that most of Buffalo's points were from their numerous big men who dominated the paint. What was working even better for them, though, was driving the lane and then kicking it out to the guards, who would either drain the shot or drive the lane themselves for a layup. Betts is another short guard (6'3''), and he put up Buffalo's second-best stat line of the night: 16 points on six-for-eight shooting (including a two-of-three from downtown effort).

The Gaels' fourth quarter:
Queen's kept it pretty close through three quarters of the game. They were outscored 14-11, 25-20 and 19-16 in those quarters, which created a not insurmountable eleven-point deficit going into the fourth. They were dominated in the fourth, though, and only put up 14 points against Buffalo's 30.

The Ugly:

The late technicals: Queen's managed to pick up five technical fouls in the dying moments of the game to Buffalo's one. Two of the technicals were assessed to Leger, two to the bench, and one to Shaw. Passion is good, but that lack of discipline isn't particularly something you want to see in an exhibition game.

The turnovers: Queen's turned over the ball 24 times in total, compared to Buffalo's 13 turnover. The chief culprit was Bannister, who only recorded three assists and turned the ball over 10 times, which is pretty ugly. Leger and Boyle also had four turnovers each.

Buffalo's pressure: It was the Bulls' high-intensity full-court press that created many of those turnovers, several of which came when the Gaels were moving the ball up the court. There were even quite a few off inbounds passes, which really shouldn't be happening at this level.

Buffalo's size advantage: The Bulls had three players listed as 6'9'', two more listed as 6'8'' and two more at 6'7''. By comparision, Queen's tallest players are Leger and Patrick Beswick, who are both only listed at 6'7''. Buffalo's players were also solidly-built packages of muscle, while the Gaels tend to be skinnier. As a comparision, Buffalo guard Betts, who's 6'3'', weighs 225 pounds. That's the same as both Shaw and Leger, Queen's two most muscular players.

One play from Ryan Hairsine: Hairsine was all right on the night, but one play of his summed up the Gaels' night. He beat his defender on the dribble and pulled up to launch an open three-pointer, but the ball slipped out of his hands and only flew about three feet. There were plenty of times when the Gaels would do the right thing initially, but couldn't finish the deal.

Post-game reaction:

Queen's guard Dan Bannister:

- On the loss as a letdown, given their long upcoming break before the regular season: "It was our last game going into a month-long break. We really wanted to have a better showing."

- On Buffalo's size advantage:"They kind of beat us up a little. They're bigger than us, but that's no excuse."

- On where things went wrong:"We played a strong first half, but we let it get away in the second half."

- On the upcoming break:"We've got a month now to do everything right that we did wrong."

Queen's head coach Rob Smart:

- On how the main problem was Queen's being tired after their 102-94 win[goldengaels.com] over the University of South Alabama the previous day(it was on the road, and I was tied up in Journal meetings, so I wasn't there to cover it): "We played three overtimes yesterday, so I think that's what went wrong. I think we were exhausted. ... Every step, you're a little slower and that just hurts you."

- On how important the win over Alabama was: "I don't think you can explain how big beating South Alabama is. Their coach is probably making half a million a year!"

- On how he was only able to utilize Patrick Beswick briefly due to his shin splints: "He goes for a couple minutes and he just can't go any more."

- On what led to the technical fouls: "I got really upset because we run a cutter off the high post almost every play. ... What bothers me is when one of their guys doesn't read the screen at all, gets hit, and then they call us for a charge."

Buffalo head coach Reggie Witherspoon:

- On his team's play: "We're still a little ragged at times. It's that time of the year."

- On what changed in the second half: "I think we had a bit better pressure on defence, forcing them into some turnovers."

- On how his main goal was to stop Queen's outside shooting: "They shoot the ball so well from the arc. ... We wanted to do a better job of stopping that [in the second half]."

- On how Queen's compared to the other teams they had faced on this tour, the defending CIS champion Brock Badgers and the McMaster Marauders: "This is the best opposition we've played."
[That was a pretty surprising comment in my mind, given how one-sided the game turned out. Still, Queen's did stick with Buffalo pretty well, except in the fourth. For reference, the Bulls beat the Badgers 109-67 [Brock Athletics]. McMaster doesn't seem to have a release posted on their game and neither does Buffalo, so that might have just been a scrimmage. Carleton beat Buffalo 84-74 [David Kent, Carleton Athletics] in the final game of the Bulls' tour Monday.]

- On the level of CIS basketball as a whole: "I think the quality of competition is really underrated. It presents us with a challenge. These teams are well-coached. ... It's tremendous preparation for us."

- On if the Bulls will be back in future seasons: "The [NCAA] rules only allow us to do it [make a trip to Canada] once every four years. We'd love to do it every year."

The GBU: Queen's versus Anderson

Breaking down tonight's men exhibition basketball match between Queen's and the Anderson University Ravens, a Division I NCAA school from Anderson, Indiana...

The score: 91-72, Anderson.

How I saw it: In person, at Bartlett Gym on the Queen's campus.

The Good:

- Mitch Leger: Leger starred for Queen's in their first exhibition match against Northeastern University on Monday night, pouring in 20 points and adding five rebounds in a close 69-59 defeat to a strong Huskies' squad. He delivered an even better performance tonight, notching 28 points (12-19 from the field, four of eight from the line) and ten rebounds (five offensive, five defensive). The 6'7'' Leger looks to be in strong form again this season, and he'll be a key component of this year's Gaels' team. He was named Player of the Game for his efforts.

- Rob Shaw: The Gaels' veteran big man was in fine form, grabbing seven rebounds (four on the offensive glass) and notching six points in only 16 minutes of playing time.

- Bernard Burgessen: The highly-touted Gaels' recruit from Port Hawkesbury, Nova Scotia showed plenty of promise against the Ravens. He played 13 minutes and only put up one point, but demonstrated plenty of defensive talent.

- The Gaels' second-half shooting: The Queen's squad couldn't hit a basket in the first half for love or money, going 11 for 35 from the field (31.4 per cent), but their shooting improved dramatically in the second half, where they were 18 for 32 from the field (56.3 per cent), pulling their overall field goal percentage up to 43.3 percent for the game.

- The Bad:

- Mike Russell:The 5'10'' guard from Indianapolis lit up his taller opponents for 26 points, 17 of which came in the first half. Interestingly, plenty of Russell's points came off drives and layups deep inside the paint against Queen's big men, unusual for a small guard. He was also five-for-eight from beyond the ark and five-for-six from the line. The Ravens pulled him later in the game once it was comfortably in hand, so he achieved his stellar totals in only 23 minutes of action.

- Anderson's shooting: The Ravens absolutely torched the Gaels in all shooting categories, beating them from the field (50.0 per cent to 43.3 per cent), from downtown (46.7 per cent to 31.6 per cent) and from the line (80.8 per cent to 44.4 per cent). They did a terrific job of executing the pick-and-roll to create stellar looks for their shooters, who often were wide open for three-point attempts. The Ravens were especially lights-out in the second half, where they shot 69.6 per cent from the field, 66.7 per cent from beyond the arc and 83.3 per cent from the charity stripe.

- Queen's secondary scoring: With Queen's basketball last year, Leger was almost guaranteed to put up 15 or more points every night and close to ten rebounds. As other teams usually had a star to match him, the Gaels' success or failure frequently depended on the efforts they got from their supporting cast. Those numbers may drop off this year, though, with the departures of Simon Mitchell and Travis Mitchell, two of the Gaels' better scorers from last year. Certainly, the Gaels' secondary cast didn't impress tonight: after Leger's 28 points, the team's next-highest scorer was Ondul, and he had to take 13 shots in 31 minutes to put up 13 points. No other Gael even hit double digits. Tonight's performance may not be entirely reflective of the coming season, as head coach Rob Smart spread the minutes around quite a bit due to it being an exhibition, but there is potential cause for concern about who will step up.

The Ugly:

- Queen's foul shooting and three-point percentages: The Gaels were pretty awful from beyond the arc, especially in the first half, where they only made one of their six three-point attempts (a 16.7 per cent success rate). They improved slightly in the second, sinking five of 13 attempts (a 38.5 per cent success rate), but their three-point percentage for the match was still a pretty awful 31.6. The chief culprit was guard Baris Ondul, who had a reasonably good match overall, but only sunk two of his eight shots from downtown. They also struggled at the line, sinking only eight of their 18 foul shots (44.4 per cent).

The size mismatch: Queen's had a huge advantage in size, as Anderson only had two players above 6'4'' (6'5'' forward Ryan Fultz and 6'6'' forward Andrew Jones), while the Gaels had six dressed players above that mark (the 6'7'' Leger and Patrick Beswick, the 6'6'' Shaw, Burgessen and Oliver Friesen (a new recruit from my hometown of Surrey, B.C.) and the 6'5'' Nick DiDonato). The Gaels didn't seem to use their size too effectively, however: they frequently scored off possessions in close, but took far too many shots from outside and wasted their height advantage. As Leger said afterwards, "Most of the time we got the ball in the post, good things happened." The Gaels did outrebound the Ravens 41-28, but it made little difference in the end.

- Rob Shaw's struggle for a rebound: Shaw had a good night overall, but his difficulty with one rebound seemed to represent the team's night overall. Shaw missed a layup, and went up for the rebound against a shorter Anderson forward. He couldn't pull it in, though, and only knocked the ball up in the air, where he went for it again. This repeated itself four times before he finally knocked the ball out of bounds, giving the Ravens possession.

Post-game reaction:

- Head coach Rob Smart:

- On the game overall:"We just didn't come out to play. ... We looked so good against Northeastern, so this is disappointing."

- On what went wrong:"We just had a bunch of guys not show up."

- On the team's defensive efforts: "We were awful defensively. If you let them score 90 points, you're in trouble. ... We can score and hit as many three-pointers as we want, but we can’t win without a solid defence."

- On Burgesson's showing: "Bernard went in and played some pretty good defence."

- On how he'd hoped these exhibition games would increase Queen's basketball credentials, perhaps paving the way for trips to the States or exhibitions against higher-profile programs in the future: "From a credentials point of view, it's pretty important. We played Northeastern pretty close, and Northeastern's a good Division I program. ... We climbed to the top of the hill, and fell halfway down [tonight].

- Forward Mitch Leger:

- On Anderson's team: "They ran their offence pretty well. I don't think they defended well, but you don't need to defend well when you score 90 points."

- On the importance of these exhibitions: "They're games that don't mean anything in the standings, but if they mean a lot to us, we'll do well in the season."

- On how CIS basketball in general and the Queen's program in particular compare to the NCAA: "Obviously, we're not going to beat the UNCs and Kansases of this world, but there's teams we can get close to."

Overall thoughts: It wasn't a dismal showing for Queen's, given that it's still early and was only an exhibition. There were a couple lessons to be learned, though. One key message to take away is shot selection: there were plenty of times when the Gaels could have pounded Anderson in the paint, but elected to go for the long jump shots instead, and that didn't work out very well. That leads to the second lesson, on the importance of in-game adjustments. The team did put up better numbers on offence in the second half, but they were still essentially trying the same shots: these ones just went in. They might have done better with a shift in the offensive focus. Obviously, that's tough when you're using a lot of rookies who haven't fully learned the offensive sets, but the Gaels will need to be adaptable once the season rolls around. They also need to find scoring depth: Leger is likely good for close to 20 points a night, but he can't win the game on his own. Finally, they need to find a way to defend against the high screens: time after time, an Anderson player would cut across the top of the key with the ball and kick it out to an open guard, who would bomb away from three-point range while the Queen's defender was still trapped behind the screen set by the first player. That can't happen if the Gaels are to have CIS success this year.

On tap: A 10:00 a.m. game in Ottawa Saturday against the University of South Alabama, and a home game Sunday night at 6:00 p.m. against the University of Buffalo.

"Rock, chalk, championship!"

A fantastic American national championship game last night saw the University of Kansas Jayhawks claim their first championship since 1988 with a 75-68 overtime win over the University of Memphis Tigers. Funnily enough, current assistant coach Danny Manning was the star of that Kansas team 20 years ago, which was appropriately known as "Danny and the Miracles" and pulled off a stunning upset of Oklahoma to claim the title.

It was a great run for this year's Jayhawks, but they didn't go without their struggles, almost losing to Cinderella team Davidson in the Elite Eight when the Wildcats' Jason Richards missed a crucial shot at the buzzer. For much of last night, it looked like the Jayhawks would come up short again, especially when they were nine points down with just over two minutes left. They went on an incredible late run, though, and forced overtime off a tremendous contested three from Mario Chalmers with only 2.1 seconds left.

That Chalmers shot deserves its own paragraph. Hell, it deserves its own column, perhaps its own book someday. It should be forever enshrined in NCAA tournament lore. Joe Posnanski of the Kansas City Star absolutely nailed it with this column, impressive considering that he filed it almost right after the gmae.

"As soon as Mario Chalmers’ shot went up in this wild Kansas-Memphis championship game, you could feel that crazy twist in your stomach," he wrote. "It’s going in. It’s the same feeling that every sports fan has in the last second, when the last Hail Mary is thrown, when the last fly ball is hit, when the last putt is curling toward the hole. Of course, most of the time the Hail Mary is knocked away, the last fly ball dies at the warning track, the last putt breaks left of the hole. And the last shot usually hits the rim and bounces away. Great finishes, like straight flushes, rarely come through."

This great finish did come through, though. Chalmers took a kick-out pass and got off what looked like a partly off-balance shot with two Tigers in his face, and it hit nothing but net. "We got the ball in our most clutch player's hands, and he delivered," Kansas coach Bill Self told CBS after the game. Boy, did he ever deliver, sending the game to overtime and paving the way for the eventual Jayhawk triumph. Posnanski properly called it "the greatest shot in Kansas basketball history".

Memphis looked rattled after that, almost destined to lose. They were getting decent looks in the overtime period, but couldn't hit a shot when it mattered. Kansas pulled off a great steal, several key rebounds and even an alley-oop to seal the deal and give Self his first national championship.

Another interesting part of this matchup was the presence of Roy Williams. Williams, now the UNC coach, famously took over the Jayhawks program in 1988, right after Larry Brown led them to their last national title and then left for the NBA. He brought the program through the sanctions levied on them for recruiting violations under Brown, and led them to terrific success. They qualified for every NCAA tournament between 1990 and 2003, made the Final Four three times and won an astonishing 80.5 per cent of their games.

Still, Williams was never able to take that last step, and flew the coop right after his high-water mark with the Jayhawks, the 2003 title game where they lost to Syracuse. He soon won a championship with North Carolina, but left a bitter taste with some Kansas fans. That made the Kansas - North Carolina semifinal even more epic, and the Jayhawks' win seemed to provide an opportunity for Kansas fans to get their grievances with Williams out. Indeed, Williams was present and welcomed in the Kansas cheering section during this game, a classy move on both his part and the part of the Jayhawk fans.

The game also marked the dawn of a new era: Kansas basketball is no longer about getting even with the old coach, as he's since been eclipsed by the new coach. Bill Self cleared the knock on his record of failing to make the Final Four, and went on to join the pantheon of Kansas coaching legends with names like James Naismith, Forrest Allen and Larry Brown. It additionally demonstrated the circular nature of NCAA coaching: Self started at Kansas as an assistant to Brown in 1985, filling the position recently vacated by John Calipari. He then left to take an assistant's position at Oklahoma State, and then had head coaching jobs with Oral Roberts University, the University of Tulsa and the University of Illinois before returning to Kansas to take over from Williams. Calipari, of course, eventually wound up at Memphis, and found himself facing both his old program and the man who filled his shoes.

This year's tournament had everything: star players like Michael Beasley, underdogs like Davidson, an eventual Final Four of top-seeded teams, and storylines galore. Yet, to top it all off was a nice CIS connection. Neate wrote before the game that Kansas is planning a pre-season match against the Carleton Ravens on August 30. That will be something, to see the NCAA champions in Canada against our greatest dynasty, even if the game's unlikely to mean much. Now, if only they could be convinced to go play Brock for the North American championship. Even the Jayhawk scrubs could probably win in a heartbeat, given the disparity in program resources, but you never know: as this year's CIS championships showed, the clock doesn't always strike midnight on Cinderella.