Tuesday
Feb022010
The last one before the final one
February 2, 2010 Tom Blackburn 
Yup, it's that time again. Time to feel better about yourself and your pursuits. We break out the old reel-to-reel and discuss UD's upcoming tussle with the Xavier Musketeers. Donoher tries to make O'Brien cry. A classic story of redemption unfolds before your eyes.
Head over to the podcast section if you dare.
Reader Comments (78)
About time there are pics again of hot chicks that will be cracked up whores who blow coke and have purchased tits in the near future.
bullshit that everyone got a shout out but me, complete and utter bullshit
Most people take mission trips to build schools, improving running water systems, clean up after a disaster...Tebow snips wieners and he's a damn hero.
MALKMUS!!!
The Rob Lowery comment was awful.
@John: I can't believe you listen to our shit podcast.
Which Lowery comment?
John is hoping to hear something he can wager on.
Haha. Something about Rob Lowery and his shot and his mom ... I was THIS close to stopping it after I heard that one.
But, I stuck through and listened until I heard the word Tebow.
Yes Blackburn ... I am looking for another bet!
please tell me this is a joke... FOR THE LOVE OF GOD TELL ME THIS IS A FUCKING JOKE
http://www.sportsbybrooks.com/sources-96team-march-madness-is-done-deal-27742
I think 72 is the PERFECT number.
Play-In games for the shitty teams to play the 1 seed in each region.
96 is too many ... man, this could get interesting.
This move to 96 is just a reflection of where our culture is headed. We are moving towards rewarding mediocrity. Let's just give everyone a participation ribbon and be done with it.
64 is so perfect that it's hard to fathom debating expansion.
UDPride will pumped if 96 happens. Because Dayton hoops can still be mediocre but now they will just get rewarded for it by "going to the dance."
For me 68 or 72 makes sense ... just like the wild card made sense in baseball. But if you start talking about 96 teams or in baseball 10 teams ... it starts to become diluted.
Here is the thing though ... more people will watch and more Cinderella stories will happen because good teams that get left out will start making noise. The problem is there will be some awful, awful teams that get to "dance".
65 is a great number ... it makes you work for it. Dayton has something to strive for. 68 or 72 would be okay too ... but once you go past that mark ... its bad.
Fuck it, lets just expand the tournament to 347 teams and call it done.
First, I am not trusting a site called, "Sports by Brooks" for my late breaking NCAA insider news. I haven't seen it anywhere else, I call bullshit.
Second, 64 (or 65) is the perfect number. The excitement of that first weekend of games is awesome. There is no sporting event in America where you can switch back and forth and see the end of great games plus an upset here and there on the first two days. The second round, you get to cheer on the underdog. Once you get to the second weekend, it is serious basketball with really good teams and interesting match-ups.
The reason the tournament is so great is that it gives everyone a shot briefly to star but quickly turns into what the overall goal is....finding a champ. No team in the tourney at #84 has a shot in hell in winning it all....no need to have them there. It is so perfect it needs no tampering...please.
I bet people said 32 teams was the perfect bracket and raised a big stink when it was raised to 40. Then 48. Then 64.
PS- By far the hottest pic of Taylor Swift I've ever seen. You can't even tell she comes from a long line of squirrels.
It would be great for someone to put out a list of all the sportscasters who are in favor of expanding the basketball tournament but against a football tournament. Not that I give a shit about college football...just like pointing out hypocrites.
68 at most...it allows for the thirty-whatever best teams in the nation to play and the conference champs to get a reward for that achievement. Agree with Blackburn...rewarding mediocrity may be fine for schools, the academy awards and congress but it has no place in march madness.
http://www.daytondailynews.com/o/content/shared-gen/blogs/dayton/daytoncrime/entries/2010/02/01/ud_student_arrested_after_brea.html/
for anyone distraught over the tourny thing... here's something that'll make you proud you are affiliated with UD.
my favorite part: "He appeared to have soiled himself and didn’t immediately know where he was, the report stated. He told officers he thought he was in his dorm room at Marianist Hall."
I am working on my next attack. Moderator has locked it down, but I will find a way through.
PB out!
PBuster, reveal yourself so we can bring you all the meats and cheeses and Julia and Blackburn's wife!
@Sancho - aww dammit, I was hoping that wouldn't get out to the public...
We've actually been trying to get his name so we can email him.
If you know who the kid that got arrested in the church is email me at coach.jim.obriengmail<dot>com
One of my buddies just texted me that UD is playing Cincinnati and Seton Hall next season.
He signed up to some Daytonflyers.com text message service and they sent him a text this morning.
Good news that at least two BCS are on the non-conference schedule ... I hope they at home.
@John, it's true.
http://bit.ly/aWipv8
@UC (part of a preseason tournament) and @Seton Hall. The Seton Hall game is the first of a home-home arrangement. So SH will play at the Arena in 2011-2012
@O'B: We are taking a stretch Hummer to the Jersey next year. Tickets are on you this time.
Seton Hall....whooopie!
/sarcasm
SH could be real tough next year if Hazell doesn't go pro. That guy can flat out score and would be an all-american candidate if he was on a good team. Pope is a good big man too. If those 2 don't come back though SH will battle for 16th in the Big East. If they are back they will be a NCAA tourney team.
UC has a chance to be pretty good next year as well. They lose Deonta Vaughn, but that might be a classic case of addition by subtraction. He's very lazy defensively and drags the team down with him. Yancey Gates will be a beast when/if he decides he wants to be. Lance Stephenson will be the big key. Right now he's not projected to be a first rounder...Needs to work on his outside shot. He probably shouldn't go pro but might do it anyway. Either way UC isn't what it once was, but will be a tourney bubble team for the next few years.
Those are good games. Throw them with @Old Dominion, likely top 25 New Mexico and what should be very good George Mason team at home, and the makings of a good OOC schedule are there. Would like to see one more BCS opponent and another good, Creighton/UNI type team as well.
Is it bad that I'm already excited for next season's OOC already? The UC game will be a good one, and for some reason I'm really excited for the SH one as well. If we can get them to play us fairly regularly home-and-home, like we've been doing with Creighton the last few years, it could turn into a nice semi-rivalry. If we can maybe get a team like Illinois, Marquette again, or another mid-level BCS game, it could be a fun start to the season.
@ Matt ... are you joking?
Seton Hall has the best player in the entire Big East and he will be back next year. They have ZERO seniors of interest on their roster and are bringing in a 5 star recruit. They will most likely win 17-19 games this season ... no way this team does not dance next year.
UC game is at US Bank Arena for the round robin tournament ... like the Chicago Invitational ... hopefully another BCS team is squeezed in there like an Auburn or something.
Our OOC Schedule next year looks awesome.
Away - Seton Hall, ODU
Home - New Mexico, George Mason
Neutral - Cincinnati, Possible BCS Opponent
Would like to see them re-sign the Creighton deal as it is up next year
Nice work so far Wabs.
@John: Jeremy Hazell is not the best player in the Big East. Fact.
Next year? I think so.
Yeah, Hazell isn't even in the top 10. He scores a lot, but he shoots a lot, too. Reynolds, Wes Johnson, Harangody, Monroe, the other Chris Wright, Freeman Butler, Ebanks...all better than Hazell. 42% from the floor, 34% from three...sounds a lot like Iverson. Chuck enough shots up there and you'll score 23 a game.
@John: not even next year. He has the fortune (maybe misfortune?) of playing on a team with little offensive options. Give him enough shots and he can put up some points, no doubt. Look at the game against Nova last night, Gonzalez ending up benching him during the last four minutes.
Hazell is the type of player the ham and eggers think Jordan Crawford is.
The round robin is 2 (possibly 3) cupcakes at UD Arena followed by the de facto championship game at US Bank. No other BCS school in the tourney.
@Adam: I'm pretty sure UD's is "the other Chris Wright."
@ Secaur ... who are the teams?
@ Secaur - Shhhhhh. Don't let the hayseeds find out about the Chris Wright totem poll.
Hazell is a volume shooter as others have said. Dominique Jones at USF is only a junior and is the fucking truth.
Great deals though, especially considering our past history against Big East competition.
@John: i think i've heard Mount Saint Marys and Murray State as the other two teams. Don't quote me on that.
Totally ridiculous prediction that I will ignore tomorrow unless it comes true: an upset happens tonight.
Xavier at UMass
Richmond at Saint Joes
GW at Charlotte
Duquesne at Temple
Dayton losing at SJU won't be the only shocker of the A10 season. Another hammer drops tonight.
By moving to 96 teams it simply devalues the regular season and how much it means to actually get in the tourney. I would take UD getting in the tournament every couple years in the field of 64 vs. every year in a 96 team field, wouldn't you?
@Blackburn-I couldn't agree more on how our society is transitioning to rewarding mediocrity. Youth sports leagues in some places aren't even keeping score anymore b/c they don't want kids to get their feelings hurt. It's pathetic. I have a hunch I know where the President stands on the 64 vs. 96. Sorry John!
This was Bruce Weber's quote in the Chicago Tribune yesterday on expanding to 96 teams, apparently he doesn't want the pressure to produce results..."Selfishly I think as a coaching profession, there's so much pressure on you to get into the tournament, if you don't get in, you're a failure," Weber said Monday. "So, I think it would help keep jobs, it would maybe stabilize some programs, so I am definitely for it. I think most of our coaching profession is."
St. Joes over the Spiders would be awesome.
@Tweeds: Obama just wants everyone to play in sweatpants.
Weber's quote is something I touched on last year--coaches should be for expansion. The leap to 96 will save countless jobs.
It will also dilute the tournament and more importantly, make more money for ESPN or CBS (or whoever gets the tournament when CBS' contract is up). This move has nothing to do with improving the game, it has everything to do with making more money.
There is always a catch with expansion, though. While getting to the tournament would lose some value, advancing would mean a whole lot more than it does today. A round one loss will be viewed as a complete failure for BCS schools, and even upper A10, MWC, and the like. Not getting a bye would be a failure in itself for a lot of schools.
I don't know why any coach would be for expansion. Instead of having the emphasis on the 30 game season, many coaches will be judged solely on 40 minutes of play. Yikes.
@Adam: I would venture to say that most BCS coaches are already judged on their last 40 minutes. That's just how it goes.
When is a round one loss not seen as a failure for BCS schools?
It's not for all of them by any stretch of the imagination. Many BCS schools have the exact same expectations as our Flyers on a yearly basis, get a bid and the fans exhale. The bulk of the pressure is on the regular season where a couple bad efforts can be forgotten with one big win. With a 96 team field, getting a bid will be pretty much a given for BCS teams and even down to non-BCS programs like upper tier A10 teams. Expectations will shift to winning a game, and one bad 40 minute effort will leave a much worse aftertaste.
The pressure won't subside just because more programs will get bids. That's not how it works.
If you shit in the forest and no one is around does it smell?
@Adam: the pressure will definetely shift, but for the most part, coaching success will be measured by getting bids to the tournament. This is the specific reason guys like Jim Boeheim are for the expansion, they see too many of their colleagues getting canned for not making the postseason. How do you alleviate that problem? Simple, just invite more teams.
@Blackburn - I don't think it's that simple. Coaches also know that more games = more money for TV deals = higher tourney shares for all schools = more money to pay coaches. When in doubt, it's probably about money. Boeheim and others know the pressure will always be high, so getting people more money while they're in the cooker is the goal.