With the NBA in a lockout, it’s not a bad time to look at the incoming college freshman. These 10 guys can dunk. I hope they can, you know, shoot, dribble, pass, rebound and play defense too. Those things are also important.
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I’m sure Mr. Stalter will go into more detail later on today, but I wanted to throw out this tidbit from CBS’ Mike Freeman about the regression in the NFL’s labor negotiations:
Based on interviews with several people familiar with the discussions this is what happened. The players thought they had an agreement on the important split of overall revenue. In fact, despite the protestations to players in a conference call, the NFLPA believed a deal was indeed near. Then, the sources stated, owners suddenly reversed course, and offered models that had been previously rejected by the players.
Come on, owners. Now’s not the time to be moving backwards on comprimises to which you’ve already agreed.
Union chief Billy Hunter said Thursday “it’s obvious the lockout will happen tonight” after players and owners failed to reach a new collective bargaining agreement, potentially putting the 2011-12 season in jeopardy.
The main issue for the owners is that the league has lost money in every year of the current CBA. Apparently, 22 of 30 teams would lose money, but the players say that the number is closer to 10.
[The owners] want to make a profit, along with developing a system in which small-market teams could compete with the biggest spenders. The Lakers and Mavericks, who won the last three NBA titles, are annually at the top of the list of highest payrolls.
So they took a hard-line stance from the start, with their initial proposal in 2010 calling for the institution of a hard salary cap system, along with massive reductions in contract lengths and elimination in contract guarantees. Though the proposal was withdrawn after a contentious meeting with players at the 2010 All-Star weekend, the league never moved from its wish list until recently.
The league would be better off if contracts were shorter and not fully guaranteed, but the owners are likely to get one or the other, not both. A hard cap (like the NFL’s) would also help promote parity, something that is very much lacking in today’s NBA.
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This has been a very controversial offseason in college football, with the scandal at Ohio State and potential scandals at Oregon, Auburn and many other schools. At Ohio State, Jim Tressel is gone, so a new era is beginning. There are also new coaches at other big schools, so there will be some interesting storylines in the upcoming season.
1. Luke Fickell – Ohio State
Everyone is predicting that Fickell will be at Ohio State for only one year. Right now they’ve only named him as the “Interim” head coach. But Fickell has deep roots at Ohio State, and despite the Terrelle Pryor fiasco and the early suspensions for some key players, Ohio State is still loaded. Freshman quarterback Braxton Miller is a real talent, with mobility and a very accurate arm. If he takes the job and grows as a quarterback, Ohio State might be at the top of the Big Ten again, and Fickell might be able to lock down this job.
2. Brady Hoke – Michigan
The Wolverines have been taking a beating for years from Ohio State during the Jim Tressel era. It was so bad that they got desperate and hired Rich Rodriguez, who made things even worse. RichRod changed up everything at Michigan, going to lighter lines on both sides of the ball along with him gimmicky offense. The results were disastrous, as Michigan got pushed around by teams like Ohio State and Wisconsin. Brady Hoke was hired to bring back Michigan-style football, and he has started to recruit real lineman. It remains to be seen, however, how quickly he can turn things around, as he’ll have to deal with RichRod’s recruits for a while.
3. Will Muschamp – Florida
This guy has huge shoes to fill with the departure of Urban Meyer. Florida became a football powerhouse under Meyer, though last year everything fell apart, as the new players couldn’t excel with Meyer’s offensive schemes. Muschamp will surely make changes on offense, so we’ll see if he adapts to his players, or tries to install his own system.
4. Al Golden – Miami
Miami used to be a powerhouse, but now they get slapped around by the elite schools. Can Golden change things? He’s supposed to be a great recruiter, so over time he can make a huge impact in South Florida. But, he doesn’t have much experience at elite programs. He’ll need some time to build things, and in the meantime he’ll need to show he can handle the pressure.
I think both Fickell and Hoke will do fine, and we might enter a new phase of the Michigan-Ohio State rivalry where it’s more evenly matched after Ohio State dominated for 10 years after Michigan had it’s own run. As for Florida and Miami, they usually get the players down in Florida, so we’ll see if these guys can actually coach.
It took him nearly two months to make a decision but Tyler Gabbert finally has a new home.
Gabbert, the younger brother of Jacksonville Jaguars’ rookie Blaine Gabbert, has officially decided to transfer to Louisville. He will be eligible to play in the 2012 season and will have three years of edibility remaining.
The 6-foot, 190-pound Gabbert was a redshirt freshman competing against sophomore James Franklin to exceed Blaine Gabbert, who was the 10th overall pick in April’s NFL draft. Franklin had been elevated to the top of the depth chart after a strong performance in the Tigers’ spring game, but Missouri’s coaching staff said that the competition would re-open in August. That’s why it was a bit of a surprise when Tyler Gabbert announced his intentions to transfer.
Louisville head coach Charlie Strong tweeted that he is “excited to have Tyler Gabbert officially join our football program.”
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