| ET | CT | MT | PT | MATCHUP | CHANNEL |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12:15 | 11:15 | 10:15 | 9:15 | (13) Oakland vs. (4) Texas | CBS |
| 12:40 | 11:40 | 10:40 | 9:40 | (9) Tennessee vs. (8) Michigan | truTV |
| 1:40 | 12:40 | 11:40 | 10:40 | (15) Akron vs. (2) Notre Dame | TBS |
| 2:10 | 1:10 | 12:10 | 11:10 | (9) Villanova vs. (8) George Mason | TNT |
| 2:45 | 1:45 | 12:45 | 11:45 | (12) Memphis vs. (5) Arizona | CBS |
| 3:10 | 2:10 | 1:10 | 12:10 | (16) Hampton vs. (1) Duke | truTV |
| 4:10 | 3:10 | 2:10 | 1:10 | (10) Florida State vs. (7) Texas A&M | TBS |
| 4:40 | 3:40 | 2:40 | 1:40 | (16) UT-San Antonio at (1) Ohio St. | TNT |
| 6:50 | 5:50 | 4:50 | 3:50 | (16) Boston University vs. (1) Kansas | TBS |
| 7:15 | 6:15 | 5:15 | 4:15 | (15) Long Island vs. (2) UNC | CBS |
| 7:20 | 6:20 | 5:20 | 4:20 | (14) St. Peter’s vs. (3) Purdue | TNT |
| 7:27 | 6:27 | 5:27 | 4:27 | (11) Marquette vs. (6) Xavier | truTV |
| 9:20 | 8:20 | 7:20 | 6:20 | (9) Illinois vs. (8) UNLV | TBS |
| 9:45 | 8:45 | 7:45 | 6:45 | (10) Georgia vs. (7) Washington | CBS |
| 9:50 | 8:50 | 7:50 | 6:50 | (11) VCU at (6) Georgetown | TNT |
| 9:57 | 8:57 | 7:57 | 6:57 | (14) Indiana State vs. (3) Syracuse | truTV |
Category: External Sports (Page 223 of 821)
The tournament opened with a bang, as the first five games were decided by just fifteen points, and four of those games — Butler/Old Dominion, Temple/Penn St., Kentucky/Princeton and the upset of the day, Louisville/Morehead St. — were decided by two points or less.
Unfortunately, the rest of the day’s action wasn’t so exciting. Richmond upended Vanderbilt in a three-point nailbiter, and Michigan State’s furious comeback made UCLA sweat a little bit, but other than a late run by Utah St. (against K-State), the rest of the day’s games were snoozers.
My bracket picks started off strong, but a 1-3 record in the night games — losing Michigan St., Utah St. and St. John’s — spoiled an otherwise fine first day.
So far, Sagarin and Pomeroy ratings are faring as expected. Not counting the First Four, Sagarin is 7-2 (78%) in games where the favorite had a 2+ point advantage, and is 12-4 (75%) overall. Pomeroy’s favorites that were 65% or greater are 6-1 (86%), while his straight picks are 11-5 (69%). (Both systems were 3-1 in the First Four, losing the USC game.)
I lost two Sweet Sixteen teams (Louisville and St. John’s, who seemed unaware that they had a game against Gonzaga today), but the goal throughout the first two days is not to lose any Elite Eight or Final Four teams, and so far, so good.
Maybe the best thing about the first Thursday of the tournament is that we get to wake up and do it again tomorrow. I’m planning to spend the day with my good friend LaRusso at a few different locales in Orange County, so I’ll be tweeting from the road.
Ohio State coach Jim Tressel will no long have to worry about the public asking him why he received lesser punishment then the five Buckeye players involved in “Tattoogate.” That’s because now he too will serve a five-game suspension.
On Thursday night, the NCAA finalized its ruling that OSU players Terrelle Pryor, DeVier Posey, Daniel Herron, Mike Adams and Solomon Thomas will be suspended for the first five games of the 2011 season after swapping memorabilia for free tattoos with a parlor owner in Columbus. Ohio State had appealed the suspension on behalf of the players, but the NCAA upheld the punishment.
Despite being handed a two-game suspension in a separate investigation by the university, Tressel decided that he too would serve a five-game ban along with his players.
“Like my players, I am very sorry for the mistakes I made. I request of the university that my sanctions now include five games so that the players and I can handle this adversity together,” Tressel read in a statement. “Throughout this entire situation, my players and I have committed ourselves to facing our mistakes and growing from them; we can only successfully do this together. I spoke with athletic director [Gene] Smith, and our student-athletes involved, and told them that my mistakes need to share the same game sanctions.”
It’s a pretty slick move by Tressel. He would have never been able to live down why he only served a two-game suspension for lying to the NCAA and to the university while his players served a five-game ban for committing a similar infraction. Granted, it doesn’t change the fact that he made a poor decision and embarrassed the program, but his decision will no doubt win the respect of his players and OSU fans (or at least some of them).
I’m sure Tressel truly does feel bad about what he did. Everyone makes mistakes and as long as they’re willing to (eventually) own up to them and seek to rectify the situation the best they can, what more can you ask of them? (Besides not committing the infraction, that is.) I’m not excusing what he did but there are good guys in the college football coaching ranks, and there are bad guys. Tressel is a good guy.
According to a report by NBCSports.com, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell has sent a letter to all players encouraging them to return the bargaining table to conclude a new bargaining agreement.
“We want you to understand the offer that we made to the NFLPA,” Goodell wrote. “The proposal was made to avoid a work stoppage. Each passing day puts our game and our shared economics further at risk. We believe the offer presented a strong and fair basis for continuing negotiations, allowing the new league year and free agency to begin, and growing our game in the years to come.”
Goodell then summarizes the key elements of the proposal: maximum salary and benefits per team of $141 million per club in 2011, with maximum salary and benefits per team of $161 million in 2014; free agency for players with four or more accrued season; reduced draft-choice compensation for restricted free agents; extensive changes in offseason workouts; reduction of preseason and regular-season padded practices; increased days off; retention of the 16-game season through 2012 with no change to 18 games without the players’ agreement; expanded injury guarantees, with up to $1 million in the year after an injury occurs; continuing medical coverage for life; immediate increases in pension for pre-1993 players; a new rookie wage scale that would make $300 million per draft class available for veteran pay and player benefits; abd external arbitration of all drug and steroids appeals.
If the players were smart, they would return to the bargaining table because going through the courts will only make the situation messier than it already is. The two sides need to keep the lines of communication open, learn how to compromise, agree to a new deal and go back to gauging the fans for billions of dollars.
That said, Goodell’s words will probably fall on deaf ears. Chargers’ linebacker Kevin Burnett recently called Goodell a “blatant liar” on a San Diego radio station and questioned what the commissioner has done to improve the league. I would imagine that other players share Burnett’s point of view and thus, the NFLPA will stay the course (which means going through the court system instead of heading back to the bargaining table).
At least one former NFL executive fell in love with Blaine Gabbert after the QB worked out at Missouri’s Pro Day on Thursday. This is what ESPN 101 NFL Insider Tony Softli tweeted after watching Gabbert throw:
Carolina Panthers will have a difficult decision after the Gabbert workout!! Wow!! A more athletic Drew Bledsoe!
Softli wasn’t the only member of the media that came away impressed with Gabbert’s workout. Dave Matter of the Columbia Daily Tribune tweeted that Gabbert unofficially completed 44 of 49 passes but at least three of the incompletions were because of drops on good balls. Apparently Gabbert’s QB coach Terry Shea was also very pleased, noting that Gabbert was “flawless on under-center snaps and excelled at moving outside the pocket.”
One thing to note is that Bengals’ coach Marvin Lewis was on hand and according to Matter, was watching Gabbert with a keen eye. Although hey, why wouldn’t he? Carson Palmer has already stated that he would rather use his face to put out a fire than return to the Bengals next season, so it would make sense that Lewis would watch Gabbert closely. Cincinnati owns the No. 4 pick in the draft and while most pundits have the Bungles selecting receiver A.J. Green, Gabbert would certainly make sense given the situation with Palmer. I personally don’t like the fit because I think someone like Christian Ponder (who should be available when the Bengals pick again in the second) would work well in Jay Gruden’s West Coast Offense and then Cincinnati could address another position at No. 4.
It’s not surprising that a quarterback prospect looked good on his Pro Day. He’s in a familiar environment throwing to familiar receivers standing on familiar footing. But as Sotli pointed out, Gabbert (who also scored a 42 on the Wonderlict test) certainly has given the Panthers something to think about at No. 1.
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