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Much of the attention this week has been devoted to Shaka Smart and Virginia Commonwealth, and deservedly so. But let’s take a moment to appreciate what Brad Stevens and the Butler Bulldogs have done over the last two seasons.

Last year, when Butler (a #5-seed) knocked off Syracuse and Kansas State to make the Final Four, there was a lot of Cinderella talk. But since #11-seed VCU made it to Houston this year, people are sleeping on the #8-seeded Bulldogs. They lost their best player (Gordon Hayward) and two other rotation players (Willie Veasley and Avery Jukes), replacing them with Andrew Smith, Khyle Marshall and Chase Stigall, none of whom average more than 24 minutes per game or 8.8 points per game. So this is essentially the same team as last year’s minus an NBA player (Hayward) who is getting healthy minutes off the Utah Jazz bench. And they still made the Final Four, upending three of the top four seeds in their region along the way.

Much of the credit goes to Stevens, who in early February wrangled a 14-9 team that was in a tailspin coming off three straight losses to UW-Milwaukee, Valparaiso and Youngstown State. At that point, the Bulldogs’ tourney hopes were on life support, and they needed to string some wins together to even have a shot to make the postseason. Over the next month, they rattled off nine-straight victories, including wins over Cleveland St. and UW-Milwaukee in the Horizon League Championship to earn a berth in the NCAA Tournament.

To fill the scoring void left by Hayward, Matt Howard stepped up his average from 11.6 to 16.7, while also bringing rebounding (7.7 per game), three point shooting (42.6%), along with unequaled grit and hustle. Howard is the team’s heart, but when they need a shot, they turn to Shelvin Mack, the team’s best offensive player. This kid has hit some huge shots over the last two seasons.

But the real reason that the Bulldogs have made a repeat appearance in the Final Four is that they’re back to playing championship caliber defense, which is something that they struggled with for most of the season. In four tournament games, they’re holding opponents to a stingy 41% shooting from the field, and just 30% from the three-point line. They’ll have to defend the three well if they hope to beat the Rams, who are hitting 44% from distance in the tourney.

Given their matchup with an #11-seed, the Bulldogs are in the unusual position of being the favorite. If Saturday’s game comes down to the final few possessions, one has to believe that Stevens and the Bulldogs have the necessary experience and moxie to pull out a win. A team’s personality generally reflects its coach, and Stevens is the model of poise on the sideline. His teams never seem to get rattled.

Two consecutive Final Four appearances by a mid-major program? That’s one heck of an accomplishment.

So let’s take a moment to appreciate Brad Stevens and the Bulldogs.

College Basketball, External Sports, March Madness

2010-11 college basketball 2010-11 college basketball season 2011 NCAA Tournament Brad Stevens Butler Bulldogs Matt Howard Shelvin Mack

Teams concerned about Mark Ingram’s knee?

April 1, 2011 / Anthony Stalter

Clemson defensive end Da’Quan Bowers isn’t the only prospect that might see his draft stock fall over these next couple of weeks due to concerns about a knee injury.

According to NFL Network’s Mike Lombardi, teams have growing concerns about the health of Alabama running back Mark Ingram, who had his knee scoped prior to the 2010 season. After rushing for 1,658 yards and a 6.1 YPC average on 271 carries in 2009, the former Heisman Trophy winner was limited to just 875 yards on 158 totes a year ago.

I’ve released three mocks and in all three of them, I’ve had the Dolphins selecting Ingram with the No. 15 overall pick. There’s a real possibility that Ronnie Brown and Ricky Williams (who are both free agents) have played their last downs in Miami, making the selection of Ingram a popular one in many mocks – not just mine.

But if his knee is a concern for some teams, then he could easily fall into the second round. Plus, there’s growing sentiment that the Dolphins want a home run threat, which doesn’t exactly describe Ingram’s game. If that’s the case, then maybe the Dolphins will look to nab someone like Oklahoma State’s Kendall Hunter, Oklahoma’s DeMarco Murray or UConn’s Jordan Todman in the middle rounds.

If Ingram does slip into Round 2, it’ll be interesting to see whether or not a running back will even be selected in the first. Mikel Leshoure of Illinois is viewed as a potential first round pick, but Ingram is listed ahead of him in most pundits’ rankings so he may fall, too. It isn’t a great year for running back-needy teams, although there are always bargains in the middle rounds.

External Sports, NFL, NFL Draft

2011 NFL Draft Mark Ingram mark ingram draft rumors mark ingram knee Miami Dolphins mikel leshoure NFL Draft rumors

Video of Lakers/Mavs fight

April 1, 2011 / John Paulsen

From NBA.com…

Lakers guard Steve Blake was driving to the basket, only to have Jason Terry shove him out of bounds. Matt Barnes tried to get into the mix and shoved Terry. Mavericks assistant coach Terry Stotts, who tried to restrain Barnes, was then shoved into a courtside spectator by Barnes, who kept screaming “get off of me.” When the dust settled, Terry, Blake, Barnes and Mavericks center Brendan Haywood were ejected. Minutes later the game had to be stopped when a spectator was kicked out of Staples for fighting and then another spectator tried to run onto the court, but was tackled by security before he could. In the final two minutes of the game, Lakers guard Shannon Brown was ejected when things got chippy between him and Mavericks forward Brian Cardinal.

If the Lakers aren’t able to catch the Spurs, there’s a good chance that these two teams will meet in the second round of the Western Conference Playoffs. If that’s the case, it looks like it will surely be a testy series.

External Sports, Fantasy Basketball, NBA

2010-11 NBA season Dallas Mavericks Los Angeles Lakers

Report on Emelianenko’s release from Strikeforce false

April 1, 2011 / Staff

According to HeavyMMA.com, a report that Fedor Emelianeko has been released from his Strikeforce contract is false.

Strikeforce heavyweight Fedor Emelianenko has not been released from his contract with the promotion.
Earlier Thursday, Russian website Lifesports.ru reported that the mixed martial arts legend would not have his contract renewed, but BloodyElbow.com has since learned from M-1 Global official Evgeni Kogan that there is no truth to the rumor.
“It’s unfortunate that the site has shown little to no journalistic integrity,” Kogan stated. “This is also not the first time their writers have fabricated a story to create attention. Quite simply, it should be ignored. Should there ever be a change in Fedor’s status, rest assured that M-1 would provide an official position.”
Emelianenko, undoubtedly one of the most recognized figures in the sport, was once considered by many the top pound-for-pound fighter in all of the sport, but a two-fight losing streak has seen him plummet down the ranks. He was defeated by Fabricio Werdum in the main event of their 2010 bout and was then defeated by Antonio Silva nearly one year later in the first round of the highly anticipated Strikeforce heavyweight grand prix.
Currently, the Russian fighter is waiting in the wings as a potential replacement in the tournament. He is expected to return to action this summer.

Auburn head coach on HBO pay-to-play segment: “It’s pure garbage.”

March 31, 2011 / Anthony Stalter

Brooks Melchior of SPORTSbyBROOKs.com has followed up on his report about the pay-to-play scandal involving Auburn University with a couple of scathing quotes by head coach Gene Chizik.

In his remarks to the media on the same day the HBO special premiered, Chizik said he felt the presentation was one-sided:
“What’s disturbing to me is they interviewed other former Auburn football players that had exactly the opposite to say but somehow or another that failed to make the air. Unless I missed that section.”
Today a source familiar with the HBO production told me that the four ex-Auburn players who appeared on the show were the only former Auburn players who were interviewed by HBO on-camera.
When I asked HBO about its efforts to engage Auburn personnel about the show, HBO VP of Public Relations Ray Stallone sent me the following statement:
Our producers did reach out to the Auburn Sports Information Office to get comment from them on the claims made by the former Auburn players interviewed by Real Sports. The Sports Information Office represents the Athletic Department in dealing with the media. We read to them in detail over the phone the statements made by the former players that we were planning to include in our report and the response we received from the school was a “no comment,” which we included in our piece.
Later in the press conference, Chizik said of HBO’s reporting:
“It saddens me that somebody’s going to air a show with basically one side being known. I think that’s pathetic and I think it’s pure garbage.”

When asked whether or not anyone from HBO contacted him directly about the piece, Chizik responded with, “Absolutely not.” But as Brooks points out, it sounds like HBO went through the proper channels at Auburn in terms of requesting comments or interviews about the segment. Not surprisingly, Auburn wanted nothing to do with the show and naturally, now Chizik is offended that he wasn’t asked to give his side.

All of this is textbook. Details emerge about dirty college football program. Dirty college football program denies any wrongdoing and pins blame on the media. Pretty soon, dirty college football program fans will all start to rail on the media for clearly having a personnel vendetta against their team. We’ve seen this all before. Of course, what is Chizik supposed to say at this point? “Spot on, HBO – man, you nailed us! Jesus H., nice reporting. Truly good work here…”

No, he’s going to vehemently deny it all and see if it all goes away. But by the look of things, the sh*t has only started hitting the fan.