We've officially reached the stage of the year where sports fans are down to spring football and baseball around the water cooler. That is unless your school is also looking for a men's basketball coach, playing in the NIT or just got upset by VCU in the Elite Eight. Oh yeah, there's also a women's tournament going on.
The Lady Ags upset Baylor, 58-46, Tuesday night, as they jumped out to an early 7-0 lead they would never relinquish as the night went on. Coming into this game, Baylor had trailed for 1:14 in their previous three games in the NCAA Tournament; the Aggies made sure they trailed all 40 minutes as they knocked Baylor out of the Elite Eight. Sydney Carter led the Aggies with 22 points, and was a spark plug on both the offensive and defensive ends of the court last night. The Aggies forced 20 Baylor turnovers, often turning defense into offense with transition scoring. Despite the officials putting a halo around Baylor's Brittney Griner (she shot 15 FTs in the game while the Aggies used 3 different post players to defend her in the first half alone because of quick whistles), the Aggies were able to use their perimeter shooting and guard play to stay ahead of the Bears all night. - I Am The 12th Man
The Colorado Buffaloes overcame a horrible shooting game from everyone butAlec Burks to take down the Kent State Golden Flashes, 81-74 in the NIT quarterfinals. Burks was 6-8 for 15 in the first to carry the team to a 36-31 halftime lead while the rest of the Buffs shot just 10-23 for 21 points. At halftime, the Buffaloes superstar, who is battling the flu, had to receive IV fluids before returning to the court. - The Ralphie Report
The sting is gone, and to be honest...I don't think many people were all that surprised that the Big Red turned in a "Big Brown" performance in the NIT versus Wichita State. The same ol' problems seemed to surface, in fact..probably more so than at any other time this season.
2010-11 Final Record: 19-11 (7-9). Not bad, as we more than doubled our win total from last season! - Corn Nation
Each spring, there are always certain players I try to keep an eye on that can end up becoming difference makers in the upcoming season. The spring practices always reveal which ones have really been working hard in the offseason. Obviously, Justin Blackmon was one of those guys last year. Another player I looked forward to seeing last spring was Orie Lemon and how he recovered from his season ending injury the year before. - Cowboys Ride For Free
He will be joining as the keynote speaker at the 2011 Iowa State coaches clinic. Leach, who currently is in a quest to gain revenge on Tech after his termination will be speaking at the Gateway Hotel on April 1. Leach is a California native, but spent a couple of years in Mount Pleasant, Iowa, as the offensive coordinator at Iowa Wesleyan. - Clone Chronicles
Since the loss to VCU we've had a few schools of thought emerge from the Kansas fan base. There are those who probably live in one extreme and now question a coach who has consistently delivered Big 12 titles to Lawrence and there are those who credit is to a bad game and have no intention of questioning anything.
I'm not here to be a "sunshine pumper", but there are a handful of quotes that struck me during these last few days and they serve as a pretty strong statement from Kansas coach Bill Self as to what he expects from himself and what he understands this job demands. - Rock Chalk Talk
Ahhhh, the refreshing and brisk smell of Spring. April is just around the corner and cold weather is finally beginning to become an afterthought in Texas (although presently the temperature is a completely unacceptable 56 degrees). With only three games left, March Madness is wrapping up, leaving college sports fans in a general state of depression and constantly pining for that first college football Saturday (or Thursday depending on just how intense you are) when the entirety of both college football and college basketball's seasons were in front of you.
Texas fans are lucky enough to be able to annually latch on to a highly-ranked college baseball team led by HOF coach Augie Garrido, while others jump into the start of MLB or pay more attention to the imminent NBA playoffs. - Burnt Orange Nation
Much thanks to SB Nation's Kentucky blog, aSea of Blue, and Glenn Logan for answering some questions about Texas Tech's newest head coach. Lots of excellent insight.
1. There's been quite a bit written about Gillispie's abrasive coaching methods and some times harsh player treatment. Is a fair assessment that he's tough on his players and were you okay with this coaching method.
It is fair to say that Gillispie is tough on his players. I am generally okay with a tough approach, but some of the things Gillispie allegedly did were a little over the top, such as making players stay in the bathroom during half time if he was displeased with them, ride home in the media van rather than with the team, etc. - Double T Nation
It's really quite impressive to think about how maligned this position was for our Sooners just two years ago and now it's one of the more talented units on the entire team. And it's not just talent, but young talent on the roster and coming in later this year. Clearly wide receivers coach Jay Norvell has done an exceptional job in convincing some of the better young WRs in the country to come join Sooner Nation. Add to that Ryan Broyles return and his constant demand of a double team in the slot, then essentially every other receiver is singled up in man-to-man. Then you take into account the expected progression from year one to two for Kenny Stills and just imagine the possibilities no matter who they throw out there at the third WR spot! - Crimson And Cream Machine
Okay, so we jumped the gun yesterday. Knowing the pragmatism that Matt Painter has shown every single step of the way, it really made no sense that he would meet with Missouri and immediately make his decision. The guy takes his time.
Everything we've learned about Painter in recent days make me want him to become Missouri's head coach even more than I already did (and he was already the clear No. 1). The guy has shown a lot of Gary Pinkel's best qualities -- he is incredibly pragmatic, and he is clearly focused, first and foremost, on the long-term. While analysts at a national level simply see this about money (they summarized on SportsCenter this morning that "Purdue's going to have to pay up to keep him" ... which is about one-third of the issue), he has clearly begun to develop quite a few concerns about Purdue's long-term viability and ability to help him win a championship. Otherwise this would have never gotten this far. The only questions, at this point, are a) has Purdue managed to alleviate these concerns in the last couple of days, and b) does Purdue still get the benefit of the doubt? Or to put it another way, does a tie go to the home team? - Rock M Nation
I've made no secret here of my respect for Bill Self. He's no Frank Martin, but I've always liked the guy anyway. That's beginning to change a bit, as I read what he's been saying about Robinson and the Morris twins leaving early for the draft. After initially making the obligatory "Kids need to do what is best for their families" comment, he proceeded to say the following things about three of the best big men in the Big 12 this year: - Bring On The Cats